The first time I was in Milford Sound, it was a stunningly clear, sunny and warm day.
With Marc, Alex and Sabrina, the return trip was remarkably different.
The Routeburn Great Walk
Once I knew about Sabrina, Marc and Alexandra’s plans to travel to New Zealand, it wasn’t a matter of if we’d do a Great Walk together, it was a matter of choosing which one. The Milford Track is the obvious choice – world famous, challenging but not too difficult, excellent huts and stunning scenery. Three flaws though – it has to be booked months in advance, it often gets rained on, heavily, and the clincher – it takes 4 days and 3 nights to complete it. Which, when you only have 17 days in New Zealand, is a good amount of time. So I considered other options. The Routeburn was the next, and fit perfectly.
While the Milford Track gets the most international attention, the Routeburn is often considered to be superior (I’ll find out before this month is out). It’s a considerably shorter trek, only taking 3 days and 2 nights, and also receives less rain and heavy cloud than the Milford. Bookings don’t need to be quite so far in advance either. And what worked out perfectly was how you can hike it. You start on the Queenstown side of mountains and hike into the Milford Sound side.
The Plan
With Alexandra, Marc and Sabrina here for 17 days, this was the trip we put together. Covering a large amount of the South Island, we’d start with the Routeburn Track, hit places like Mt. Cook and Fox Glacier, and see lots in between. It wasn’t always successful – the weather had other ideas quite often, but we got to do the majority of the activities that we wanted. And while quite a few things were repeat for me, I still got to do new activities quite often at those spots…if the weather permitted at least.
The Tuatapere Hump Ridge Track (Part 2)
The Tuatapere Hump Ridge Track
I have to reach back several weeks, all the way to mid-February for this hike, but it is well worth documenting. The town of Tuatapere, as I had mentioned previously, had built itself a big, expensive, private, 3-day hike as a means of attracting tourism to the town. And I had the time, just barely, to hike it before friends from Canada arrived. And so one grey morning (despite 3 days of sunshine forecast), I found myself $130NZD lighter and standing at the track start.
That massive spike you see for the track elevation? Ya, that’s a 900+ meter elevation gain. On the first day. It makes for a grueling start. Oh, and it is also 19km in total hiking that day alone. Well, no time like the present to start my trek!
Soon to be updated once again!
After bidding adieu to Sabrina, Alexandra and Marc at the Queenstown airport, I’ve got a few days of doing a lot of sitting around, relaxing, and pouring over my numerous photos of the last 2.5 weeks. So that means updates will once again be resuming! In a day or two at least. For now, I’m going to go find some ice cream. 🙂
Hiatus, the sequel!
With friends out from Canada once again, I’ll be taking a break once again from posting updates. So for the next two weeks or so, there will be minimal to no updates. But once I get back on here I’ll have stories about:
– The Tuatapere Hump Ridge Track (completed before friends came out, but still working on the photos)
– The Routeburn Great Walk
– Milford Sound, the return!
– Paragliding over Queenstown
– Glacier Kayaking at Mt. Cook
– Glacier Ice-Climbing at Fox Glacier
And probably quite a lot in between.
So until March, toodles!
Tuatapere – The Best in the World at…
After returning to the South Island and spending a few days relaxing in Invercargill, I headed to the small town of Tuatapere. With a population of less than 1000, it is a small town, in a remote part of New Zealand.
