Thursday - Fiordland National Park

Making lunch

Tomeo's super sandwich

The morning drill for our third day on the Routeburn Track was very similar to that of the previous day: make our lunches, eat breakfast, load our packs, and start hiking by 9:30 a.m.

Today’s award for the most stupendous sandwich went to our Japanese roommate, Tomeo.

Toast and Vegemite.  Yum--or Yuk!

Kitchen staff

The hot breakfast was served buffet-style by the guides: scrambled eggs, toast, hash browns, sausage, bacon, broiled tomato, and baked beans--and Vegemite!

Team NY:  Chris & Maria, John & Joan, Scott

Team Japan 1

Team Japan 2

Team Whangerei: Dan & Jane, Geoff & Mary, Ross & Mary, Joe & Cherry  

Team Japan 3

Guides: Johanna, Toshi, Mike, Logan

Nancy's heat rash

Mrs. Spider

After breakfast, we noticed that an outdoor neighbor had been busy during the night, preparing to catch her own meal.

Lunch stop

Resting at lunch

Today’s 5.7-mile journey seemed like a stroll in the park after the rigors of the first two days. Although it wasn’t that much shorter than the previous legs of the track, today’s portion descended gradually into the Routeburn Flats, so we didn’t have to negotiate as many steep declines or scramble over as many big rocks.

We stopped for lunch in a wooded area of the flats, where the river slows down and widens into a shallow pool. Several trampers, including Nancy, pulled off their boots and put their tired feet in the cool water. (It was cool enough that about thirty seconds of immersion was sufficient for refreshment.) Michael declined this opportunity to chill out because he didn't want to get the moleskin wraps on his feet wet.

Modern trail toilet

Most of the toilets along the track are located within the lodges and shelters, but this outhouse was all by itself near our lunch stop.

The final leg of the track took us through a forest of beeches that was ringing with birdsong. Guides Mike and Johanna helped us identify the birds we could hear and sometimes see in the trees.

End of the track with Team Whangerei

End of the track!

We finally made it to the end of the track about 2 p.m. After the requisite photos to prove that we truly had endured to the end, we boarded a bus and started back to Queenstown. 

All aboard the coach

Return motorcoach

Supply helicopter (to the right of the peak)

On the way, we got a glimpse of how the remote lodges along the track are resupplied. Each Thursday, a truck hauls several crates of food, fuel, and other necessities to a field at the base of the mountains. Then a helicopter ferries a load to each lodge, and brings all the garbage back out.

Awards ceremony

In Glenorchy, a small town at the northern end of Lake Wakatipu, we stopped at a pub for liquid refreshment and several platters of chips (which New Zealanders prefer to consume with mayonnaise rather than ketchup). While we were thus relaxing, the guides conducted an "awards ceremony," presenting each tramper with a certificate of completion and an 8x10 glossy of the entire group.

Crossing the Rees River

The return trip to Queenstown along the northern arm of the lake was much shorter than the ride to the beginning of the track had been. After saying goodbye to good friends who had been strangers only three days ago, we emptied our borrowed packs and called a cab to take us back up that steep hill to the Copthorne Lakefront Hotel.

Copthorne Lakeview Motel

Unfortunately, we could not look forward to taking a shower and collapsing just yet, because first we had to change hotels. When Michael had reserved our rooms for this trip from his desk in Cincinnati, he had failed to notice that Queenstown is home to both the Copthorne Lakefront Hotel and the Copthorne Lakeview Hotel, and thus he had made reservations for the night before our tramp at one, and for the night after our tramp at the other. So at the Copthorne Lakefront Hotel, we picked up the luggage we had left with the porter and then transported it to the Copthorne Lakeview Hotel a couple of blocks up the street. It turned out to be not such a bad thing, because our room at the Lakeview was directly across the hall from the guest laundry room—which was just what we needed.

Fish & Chips and Pumpkin Risotto

Plugging back into the grid

After washing both ourselves and our clothes—and lying down for a while—we walked back into town to find a place to have dinner. Michael was in the mood for fish and chips but Nancy wasn’t, so he reluctantly passed up the outdoor stand that served only fish and chips, but eventually was happy to be at a restaurant that had both good fish and chips and free wifi. Nancy enjoyed her pumpkin risotto, as well as the glimpses of women’s Olympic figure skating that she was able to catch on the big screen over the bar. 

William Gilbert Rees

View from the wharf

Down the street from the restaurant, we saw a statue of the Welsh explorer who had founded Queenstown: William Gilbert Rees. This afternoon we had crossed a river named after him as well. Since Michael's paternal grandmother was a Rees from Wales, we wondered whether William Gilbert was a relative. (After doing a little online research, Nancy determined that he was not—at least, not a close one.)

Queenstown Wharf

Queenstown’s wharf area seemed particularly busy this evening, despite the fact that it’s a weeknight and the weather is a bit brooding. The street performers included a fire-eater/flame-thrower in addition to the usual guys with guitars. 

Innovative Musician

Then there was the chap who had made the effort to roll his decorated piano onto the wharf, but hadn’t bothered to compose or learn anything more creative than a series of New Age-y chords to play on it. 

Queenstown Highland Band

Michael was most interested in the Queenstown Highland Band piping in the town square.

The best part of the evening was going back to Patagonia to try some different flavors of gelato.

Michael happy with his Patagonia gelato

Back at the hotel, we folded our laundry and repacked our luggage. This time we put toiletries, one change of clothing, binoculars and a raincoat into a separate duffle bag to take on tomorrow’s overnight cruise into New Zealand’s fiordland.

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Click here to view a photo essay of many varieties of fauna we say along the trail.