Tramping the Routeburn Track
Friends we had made whilst in the Galapagos Islands had recommended that we do one of New Zealands Great Walks whilst we were there. The Routeburn Track was the one which we could best fit into our itinerary and was also one of the walks that Lisa and Chris had recommended. As with most things in New Zealand it turned out to be quite expensive. Yes, doing a hike in a national park was expensive! We had to pay $50 per night per person to sleep in a hut and return transport was $234. By the time we had hired sleeping bags, some cooking equipment and some food we were well over $500 (£250), but I was sure it would be worth it.
The track is an alpine crossing and it starts in Fiordland National Park and ends in Mount Aspiring National Park. Along the way we got treated to some fantastic views of completely untouched rainforest (quite similar to what we saw on the Inca Trail) and also some views that I can only imagine were fantastic. I say this because on the second day there was a lot of cloud and as we climbed to the highest point on the track we could not see more than 200 metres, sometimes less.
The walk was reasonably easy going, any climbs are gently graded and the path is very well maintained by the Department of Conservation. As well as seeing a wide variety of unusual looking alpine plants - I'm not a botanist but I guess many of these plants were endemic to New Zealand - the walk is punctuated with beautiful lakes and many waterfalls. See below for photos of Lake Howden, Lake Mackenzie (stayed here on first night), Lake Harris and the Routeburn Falls.
It is recommended to walk this track in three days but with hindsight we could have easily done it in two. An early start on the third day meant we could catch our 10:00 am transport back to Queenstown and gave us enough time to enjoy another Ferg Burger before catching a short flight to Christchurch.
