Do One Thing Every Day That Scares You: Kepler Track

Kepler Track – End of winter start of Spring NZ 2012

The Kepler track is situated on the west coast of New Zealands south island in the beautiful fjordland national park. Starting from Tea Anu this is a NZ Great Walk 60km 3-4 day circular track you can hike in either direction. Tara needed to be at the airport to fly home on the Sunday so we both agreed we’d manage to do it over the 3 days and skip the last hut to combine days 3 and 4 into one.

Day 1: Distance: 14km Time: 4.5hours Elevation gained: 885m

We set off in the morning from the control gates just outside Te Anu. There were a couple of cars parked up but not many. We started out in cloud and spent most of our day wandering up through forrest with beautiful green moss and old growth to entertain us. The clouds cleared, and it was a gorgeous blue sky day however we remained in the trees right up until the saddle which was 30min to the end of our first day. What a relief it was to stop going up, and get the chance to look out on on the beautiful mountains in fjordland national park.

We both soaked up the sunshine and played around with our cameras very aware that this part of the west coast gets 200 days of rain and here we were in one of the rarer days of pure sunshine YAY!!

This hut was huge, it sleeps 60 and thankgoodness we are here in the offseason as we shared it with 12 people only. Most of these were only staying the night here and then heading back down as day 2 is the alpine ridge day.

A couple arrived later in the day and were wanting to summit Mt Luxmore (height 1472m) as they were planning to go back down the next day. Tara and I thought this would be good ideas as even though our path would cross by it the next day as the weather was so nice and who knows what tomorrow would bring. We also got an amazing sunset around there, there wasn’t much snow at all, infact we had to find it to play in it but I guess it meant we would be quicker on the track the next day.

It was a full moon night so no headtorches needed and Tara and I went on to check out the Luxmore cave once we’d returned from our summit hike. The darkness was accentuated by the caves lack of natural light however we did find some nice formations of stalactites and stalagmites.

We were the last ones to bed that night and were ready for a good nights sleep beacause the alpine was calling us……

Day 2: Distance: 14.6km Time: 6 hours Elevation change: many ups and downs most decline is around 1000m from alpine to hut

Tara and I had our own private bunk room that normally sleeps 12 to ourselves and we were awoken at sunrise. It really was a pretty one over the lake and to make it more interesting a kea (NZ alpine parrot) came to say hi. These birds are highly intelligent and have an interest in anything they can carry in their mouths and get there teeth into which includes rubber, so I caught him trying to eat the seal off our hut door.

We left good time in the morning aware it was safer to give more time to this alpine section. We weren’t wrong, the winds had picked up a lot and were over 50km hour I wouldn’t have wanted much more than that or would have felt like I’d be blown away. As it was we were lucky as the wind direction was actually pushing us into the side of the mountains rather than off them. We had been warned that ice axes may be needed and that snow was predicted so we’d hired both ice axes and crampons (as mine are safely locked up in storage in Canada how helpful ; -) I had looked forward to teaching Tara some basics but we really didn’t neeed them at all. The snow was less than patchy and just a little icy at times.

Spending most of our time on the ridgeline we had such amazing views of all the surrounding peaks. We made it to the first shelter ready to get out of the wind and have a snack when Tara yelled out. It turns out the door had been left open by some previous trampers (who knows when this was??) and a Kea had got in and hadn’t been able to get back out. This meant it had obviously left a lot of mess and was quite distressed. Tara propped open the door with a rock and we huddled on the otherside of the shelter and ate, thankfully he left and we made sure the door was properly shut this time.

Though today was super windy the clouds were still really high and we had lovely views again and no rain. Now we had 2 days of no rain how lucky are we!!!!

As we knew it, this day would end back in the forrest so we soaked up the views. We were contemplating making this our extra long day to make our last day an easier one, however once we hit the steep decline of around 1000m the soles of our feet protested to going at a fast enough pace to push on. The hut was nessled in a valley with views still of the mountains, still one of the bigger huts I’ve seen but not as big as our first one. Here we shared it only with 4 other USA girls. We wanted to sit out in the sun that had arrived though NZ is proving to have its own nasty pests. Namely the sandfly!!!! They let you sit and just as you get comfortable they hone in on your smell and swarm….. There bites are viscious too…. Tara said its quite the problem in NZ so all those planning to travel here please be warned….

There were 2 side trips we could do from the hut, one was a visit to the river and the other the waterfall. I convinced Tara our feet would really appreciate a dip in the icy river so we headed down and numbed ourselves and our feet in there.. brrr…… Afterwards as the sun was setting we thought we’d take a walk to the waterfall in hope of hearing or seeing a kiwi and also some glowworms. Well Tara did hear a kiwi but I missed it and the waterfall was really pretty. I could see people swimming here in the summer it was all very peaceful….

Again the last ones to bed, I see a pattern forming here. I was really enjoying our after dark experiences though, as NZ really has no predetors to worry about it meant we were more the safe having fun and exploring.

Day 3 – Combined day 3 and 4 Distance: 33km Time: around 9 hours

We knew today was going to be a big km day, even though the paths on this tramp have been probably the most well maintainted I’ve ever been on sometimes due to the rocks they put down it can actually hurt the soles of your feet even more. We set off before sunrise and used our head torches for light. Today it was drizzling with rain though the thick forrest canopy kept us mostly dry and we actually had to shed layers we were walking so fast!

We felt we’d made good time when we arrived at the first shelter, had a quick snack and continued on. The next shelter considsted of a sloped roof and couple of picnic tables no real protection from the wind or sandfly’s so we ate quick and again moved on.

Next we hit the big slide, an area where the mountain had avalanched all the trees. The most common forrest tree on the Kepler track is the beech as well as lost of ferns and moss making it a vibrant green and lush environment with all the rain it gets.

We made it to the hut which is the opportunity to make this a 4 day tramp if you choose. This area is accessible by boat from the lake and some locals had come in with their families and young children and taken over. Still good on them for enjoying whats in their backyard and getting out and about. They made us some space inside so we could eat lunch. The 4 american girls caught up to us at this point, though we’d loved having the track to ourselves, seeing loads of wildlife that would normally be scared off by such a large number of voices so Tara and I left on our own again.

Now I love the beauty of a forrest that’s for sure but this last 15km did take its tole. We made it to the footbridge and a welcomed toilet stop at 22Km mark. I was reading the notice board and noticed this sign…. I couldn’t believe there was an option for people to be helicoptered in to the first hut… Then what do they do send them unprepared into the alpine section??? Rediculous..

I know we were both very relieved once we’d seen the Waiau river bend and thinking it would be quite a while further, we were both surprised and happy to see the control gates were in fact just around the next bend. Combining the last 2 days into one makes for a super long day but doable depends on what your plans are both of us aren’t sure if we’d do it again like that but we both loved the trip.

One thing is for sure, I would never do a NZ Great Walk in the peak season. The tracks are a little too well maintained for my liking which brings out well the less than equipped tramper and as I imagine hoards of them as the huts undergo a booking system to at least minimise the numbers to a degree.

Still in the shoulder season of winter this was a fantastic intro to NZ tramping and spent with such a wonderful friend Tara giving us lots of time to catch up on all our news.

Whats next NZ? I can hardly wait