Horses, seals, penguins, and fiords oh my!
After a week of settling into our new hometown, we were ready to hit the road once more, and it was Meredith's birthday to boot. As such I wanted to line up an unforgettable trip on the far side of the South Island to get involved with some of the most iconic landscapes in all of New Zealand, in the aptly named Fiordland National Park. The park itself is an absolute wonder, one of the largest national parks in the world (and by far the largest in New Zealand) it covers the entire Southwest corner of the country, all of which was sculpted by glaciers in the last ice age. Think Norwegian coastline, only less cold.
So we packed up our trusty RAV and struck west across the island. The heart of Fiordland is a small town called Te Anau, which is about 4 hours drive from Dunedin. Given the surprise nature of our agenda, we didn't head straight there and instead opted for a night of camping beside the Mavora Lakes about half an hour out of town. Boy, did that pay off. Mavora Lakes will likely be one of the best car camping spots we encounter, you can tell it's good when the camp is occupied by Kiwis rather than rented campervans. These two lakes are surrounded on almost every side by peaks rising above bush line. The lakes are also home to the most instantly recognizable LOTR filming location we've seen thus far, Nen Hithoel, the place where Frodo and Sam split off and row away at the end of the first movie. See pictures above for movie/real-life accuracy. So we found ourselves a camping spot on the shores of the crystalline lake and had a proper birthday dinner under the stars.
The next day we were packed up and out early for the first real surprise of the birthday trip, a morning horse trek outside of Te Anau overlooking the stunning mountains of Fiordland. We saddled up on a (lucky for us) private trek with the Kiwi equivalent of John Wayne, who just happened to realize that making money off of horse-crazy tourists is more profitable than raising sheep in his neck of the woods. The sheep he kept were mostly for decoration. The horses, thankfully for me, didn't need much input from their riders and took us on a lovely cruise over hills and around small ponds treating us to truly epic views at every turn. One particularly breathtaking view looked directly up Mount Luxmore, the centerpiece of the world-famous Kepler Track, our guide kindly pointed out that it's actually a good time of year to do the hike since the snow is melted but the masses haven't quite shown up for summer yet. So our morning horse trek planted the seed for our next adventure.
With a bit of soreness in the thighs, we dismounted and headed into Te Anau for lunch. The town sits beside Lake Te Anau (one of the country's largest) and is just about as picturesque as one could imagine. After a viewing of the jaw-dropping Fiordland On Film (basically 30 minutes of helicopter-shot footage of the inaccessible parts of the park) we hopped in the car and headed north along the lake on the hunt for a campsite.
Unbeknownst to Meredith our destination the next day was the iconic Milford Sound so we made camp at a large site up the highway to Milford. Past the northern tip of Lake Te Anau you enter the Eglinton Valley, a glacier-carved (of course) affair with soaring walls that mixed in beautifully with low hanging rain clouds. It was a great place to stay and an even better place to wake up in as we watched rainbows form all around as rays of sun slipped through the morning mists. But it was all just a taste of what was to come.
Milford Sound, if you don't already know, is one of New Zealand's largest tourist attractions. It is the only fiord accessible by road and for all the hustle-and-bustle going in and of there these days it will always be a truly iconic landmark. For us, the drive in was half the experience. Entering Milford will never be done justice in words, all I can do is liken it to driving into Zion National Park. It goes like this: the scenery is incredible, you drive through a scary old tunnel, and then you pop out into a canyon of such incredible scale it's all you can do to keep the car on the road and your jaw off the steering wheel.
A less enlightened version of me would have been very content with the stunning drive to and from Milford. But that version of me wouldn't have taken a sightseeing cruise on the sound itself. Having had the experience I can tell you a cruise is absolutely requisite if you're in this part of the world. This was the second part of Meredith's surprise birthday trip, and we were actually able to score a sweet last minute deal on a cruise that needed to fill seats. Suffice to say it may have been the best 80 dollars I have ever spent.
We wound up cruising with Mitre Peak who operate the smallest regular tour boats on the sound, there was plenty of space and a crew who was seemingly just there to gape up at the scenery alongside you. Out on the sound, all signs of humanity melt away. Mountains pitch down from snowcapped peaks high above bush line right down to the sea. Milford winds its way back and forth from the township out to sea, and each turn is stacked with views more impressive than the last. Wildlife? They have that too, in droves. Seal colonies to dolphins surfing off the bow of the boat to our first successful penguin spotting of our trip!
At the end of our cruise, we were awe-struck, giddy, and a little concerned we had gone too epic too early. Worried, that other scenery simply wouldn't hold up to the staggering scale of Milford. Well, the natural cure for that worry is to hatch an even better plan for the next week...
In before the rush.
Following our recent bout of inspiringly good weather in Fiordland we returned home to reprovision and gear up for an early-season attempt of the Kepler Track. This track is one of New Zealand's "Great Walks" (basically a series of epic multi-day, hut-based trips around the islands) and according to many Kiwis is actually the best. It certainly was the most intentionally built to be a flagship. To mark the centennial of the country's parks program they built this track as a 4-day adventure that does a handy loop right from the Te Anau Visitor's Center. It climbs up and around the mighty Mount Luxmore spending almost half of its length circling above treeline. So we thought it sounded like a perfect first backpacking experience for Meredith.
The trick was timing. Kepler is an extremely popular hike and the huts along the route book early and can be very expensive. However, because we were still in the off-season normal rules went out the window. In the winter the huts are cheap and first-come-first-served, but you take your own risks with weather and avalanche danger in the high country. Factors that at least for us, this late in the off-season proved to be a little overblown. Nonetheless, we called Anja the friendly German DOC worker at the Visitor's Center pretty much every day to get the latest weather reports. The weather held for us and operation Off-Season Kepler was a go.
We loaded our packs a bit more decadently than I'm accustomed to while backpacking for a couple reasons. 1, using the hut system is awesome so things like tents, sleeping pads, and water filters (a concept my desert-hiking self is still struggling to come to terms with) got to stay behind. And 2, Mere wanted to prove what a boss she is by taking a full-size, fully-loaded pack on her first expedition. So we had a little extra space for things like wine and fancy cheese, the camping high-life did not end when the hiking began.
Day one on the Kepler is actually when most of the climbing is done on the track. You take off from the dam on the southern tip of Lake Te Anau and begin your morning with a lazy walk on a glorified sidewalk of a path through the beech forests by the lake until you reach the Brod Bay campground for a bite of lunch. The truly lazy can actually skip this part by taking a water taxi across the lake, but where's the fun in that?
From Brod Bay, you head straight up the mountain. Winding your way through the dense beech forest can actually be a little disheartening because while you're constantly climbing it's tough to actually get a sense of how much elevation you've gained. Meredith quickly learned that the best way to power through was to hike to the beat of (variably) 'Staying Alive' and 'Another One Bites The Dust'. With good climbing techniques in hand and good weather on your side, we powered our way up the hill in surprisingly good time to the most stark and stunning treeline I've ever seen. In Fiordland at about 950 meters the trees, bushes, and ferns stop all at once giving ways to sweeping vistas across the lakes and peaks of the park. It really was a sight to behold. I am now thoroughly convinced that this crazy low treeline (950 meters is about 3,100 feet) is actually New Zealand tourism's greatest asset. These mountains wouldn't be quite so stunning if they were all covered in trees to their peaks.
From treeline, it was just a quick jaunt over open ridges to the Luxmore Hut. Arguably the New Zealand hut systems premier edifice. Holding about 50 bunks and a huge kitchen/common room it really felt more like the world's most scenic hostel with its views over the lake. A feeling aided by the fact that we were far from the only people getting in before the track went on-season. We shared the hut with a host hikers from all over, including our first hiking companions Tim and Daniel, a Kiwi and Brazilian duo from Auckland out doing a bit of exploring in their own backyard.
If day one gave Meredith a misconceived notion about pack weight, day two gave her bad intel on how early backpacking expeditions typically strike out in the morning. Due to some early swirling storms we slept in and had a lazy breakfast and hit the trail around 10:30, not my normal course of action as people who hike with me well know. Be that as it may, it was perfectly timed because we got nothing but blue skies and light breezes on New Zealand's bellwether day of hiking.
You see, day two on the Kepler is the crossing that wraps around the summit of Mount Luxmore and down into an adjacent hanging valley. It is the section where winter traveling and weather can be the most precarious, so we were mighty thankful that the skies were clear of clouds and the track was clear of snow. With the bulk of the climbing behind us, we were treated to a stunning day with views that our pictures will certainly fail to do justice to at every turn. We made such good time at the outset we even took a side trip to summit Mount Luxmore (at 1,472 meters high we were out there baggin' 14ers baby! Pay no attention the fact that, that translates to 4,830 feet). This side trip also brought on our closest encounter with the local Kea- smart as hell, mischevious high mountain parrots- who broke into my pack for some snacks but had the courtesy to stay around for a photo shoot afterward. The worst you'll ever hear locals say about the Kea is that they're 'cheeky-as', sure cheeky enough to steal your shoes and hold them ransom for nibbles of your scroggin.
After a stunner of a day wrapping around the mountain, we took our final break in the ridiculously positioned Hanging Valley Shelter. It clung to a knife ridge and looked squarely at the long track down to the next hut on the valley floor thousands of feet below. The descent was honestly more brutal than the climb the day before but fortunately, most of the crowd had turned back at Luxmore Hut so there was no rush to scurry down the mountain.
While Kepler may be designed as a four-day trek it is doable in three if you're willing to get creative. That was our plan, however, it did mean that we had about 22 kilometers to cover on day three, fortunately, the trail mellowed considerably that day as it simply wound down a valley to the nearby Lake Manapouri. We got up and at it early and made great time hitting the next hut on the track just a little after noon. When we got there we saw the value of staying a third night as the hut sits right by the lake with a beautiful beach available for all weary hikers. If we had been doing the trek in summer this would've been a great place to stop and have a beachy afternoon.
Nevertheless, we soldiered on the extra hour or so to the first exit point on the track alongside our hiking companions Tim and Daniel. We ended our first epic trek crossing the beautiful Rainbow Reach suspension bridge with weary feet, new friends, and big ol' grins on our faces. A quick hitchhike back to Te Anau put us back just in time for some celebratory pizza and beers to mark a hike well done.
Our Route:
Tips For Potential New Zealand Travelers:
- Straight up, you can't go to Milford Sound and not do a cruise. We got an easy deal and I think it was the best $80 (for two) that I've ever spent.
- If you're looking for a campsite on the way up to Milford Sound save yourself some driving around and go straight to the Cascade Creek site. It's the best, has great facilities and even better views.
- Thinking about doing a lot of backpacking using the wondrous New Zealand hut system? Buy a DOC Backcountry Hut Pass right away. It's 90 NZD for 6 months of unlimited use of most DOC huts (doesn't apply to most 'Great Walk' huts in season, but there's still a ton to be enjoyed), so you'll offset that quickly with huts averaging $15 a night.
- Take the advice you get from DOC workers with a grain of salt, they have an incentive to get you to do the Great Walks in season. They won't recommend many other awesome routes, and may overhype dangers of doing the walks off-season.
*Disclaimer: This is just in our experience. We did the Kepler Track about a week before the season and were heavily warned of "moderate" avalanche danger...there was literally no snow on or around the entire track. - Looking for post-hike pizza in Te Anau? Ristorante Pizzeria Paradiso is what you're looking for, don't bother with anything else.