Routeburn

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Trip start
April 3, 2025
Routeburn Traveler
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Queenstown
Apr 3–4, 2025 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌧 15 °C
We left home at the crack of dawn, well, about 6 am.. but managed to hit all of the traffic in Auckland so that we were running to catch the bag drop before it closed.

We touched down in queenstown just after lunchtime and split into our two groups to find the backpackers we were staying in. The short tramp group (that I'm in) caught the bus that was waiting right outside the terminal ready to go as we left, and the long tramp group had to pick up a car and battle queenstown traffic to get there. We won if it was a race.

We had a late lunch and then took a stroll by the lake. The sun peeked out for a bit which was lovely but the rain was back by the time we made it back to the hostel.

I ended up having a bit of a nap and woke up groggy just in time to sort my breakfast and then go to dinner.

Early night to tonight, we have some walking to do tomorrow!Read more
Traveler Beautiful ❤️
4/3/25Reply
Traveler Lovely picture!! Enjoy your time!
4/3/25Reply
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Routeburn Traveler
Routeburn falls hut
Apr 4–5, 2025 in New Zealand ⋅ 🌧 11 °C
The bus trip from queenstown was quite brisk. The driver has obviously done the trip enough to be able to go quite quickly. Unfortunately not all of the passengers could quite cope with the windy roads at that speed. Luckily not one of us.

The weather was a bit on and off with the showers but all in all it was pretty prefect tramping weather. The rain had made all the waterfalls that much more spectacular and the moss that much more vibrant.

At one point we heard a stag roaring. I'm pretty sure it's the first time I've heard such a thing and it was an amazing sound.

We had lunch at the routeburn flats hut which had a great shelter. Prefect for stopping out of the drizzle for bur to eat.

We reached the routeburn falls hut at 2pm. Which usually had me pacing about looking for ways to get rid of my excess energy. This time though I felt perfectly content just to read a book. I must be in need of a bit of rest.

The hut is huge.. there are over 40 people staying tonight, bit there is plenty of space and it's well thought it so we didn't feel like we were on top of one another. Up the hill there are another couple of huge buildings for the guided walks. It kind of looks like like they get motel accomodation.... if certainly explains some of the tiny backpacks we saw on the trail as well.

The falls were pretty spectacular. Apparently the falls dumps water into into a fault that runs parallel to the fast southern fault. I'll have to check out where it runs up the ridge tomorrow.Read more
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Routeburn Traveler
McKenzie lake hut
Apr 5–6, 2025 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C
We had a relatively relaxed start to the day. We didn't set off until 930. The kea made an appearance just before e set off. Peering at us over the lip of the roof.

Heading up past the falls, the cloud lifted a bit but hung around just enough to provide a bit of mystery and atmosphere. Unfortunately, as we rose up out of the valley the cloud got thicker till by the time we were walking past the lake we could only see the ripples glinting through the fog.

At the shelter below conical hill we made the decision to go up the hill. It looked like there were breaks in the cloud cover so we had a chance of getting some views from the top. The climb was a little more technical than the walk had been thus far. There were rocks that looked quite slick (though they really were quite grippy) that needed to be climbed. About 2/3rds up the hill overlooked the lake and the cloud had completely lifted from there so it was well worth the climb just to see that. When we got to the top though, there was very little to see. This was doubly disappointing for the French couple who had climbed up twice a they thought it might be clearing.

We saw and heard more kea flying around as we continued on toward the hut. Once we dropped below the tree line it was quite difficult to figure out how we were approaching the hut and when we popped out I was quite surprised what direction we came from.

Cindy and I had been walking together, and we got to the hut well ahead of the others and after we bagged our beds we headed down to the lake for a swim / wash. Yeah the water was as cold as it looked.

Once the others arrived I was surprised that just about everyone went in! The afternoon sun was very well recieved and aided immensely in warming up.Read more
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Routeburn Traveler
Out at the Divide
April 6, 2025 in New Zealand ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C
We had an early start, my alarm went off at 5am. But given that it was daylight savings it didn't feel too bad. We snuck out of the dorm and packed up outside. After a quick breakfast we headed off into the darkness at about 6, we only had 4 hours to get to the shuttle so we definitely felt like we were on the clock.

Watching the light get brighter from a dull blue behind the trees to the full light of day while taking was really neat. We still had time to stop and appreciate the amazing waterfalls and views up impressive valleys but we also had to keep an eye on the time.

We managed to rock in to the divide shelter with 20 minutes to spare do I think we did jolly well. It also gave us time to ready our bags and selves for the flight back to Auckland. The shuttle driver from the track to te anau must have been on the clock as well. I'm sure he would be the fastest driver on that stretch of road. We got there safe at least.Read more
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Trip end
April 6, 2025

Queenstown

Routeburn falls hut

McKenzie lake hut

Out at the Divide