Entry 53: New Zealand Trip II (The Routeburn)

Note: this is part two of a three part post. Click here for part one.

[A couple of vistas overlooking Lake Wakatipu from Queenstown, NZ.]

We got in to Queenstown, New Zealand around 2:30pm. There were five of us, me, S, my colleague and friend T (who met us at the airport in Sydney), S’s friend A, and A’s friend St. A and St were on vacation from the States touring the ANZ region. We were all setting out at 7am the next morning to hike the Routeburn Track, so we rented gear, bought supplies, ate a big meal, and then went straight to the hotel to get some much needed (at least for S and I) sleep.

The trail we hiked is three days and the first day didn’t go great. It was raining and foggy. I didn’t mind the rain too much, even though I was in sneakers which aren’t exactly waterproof, but the fog really sucked. It completely obscured the views. A lot of the hike was through the forest, so there wasn’t a whole lot to see, but every now and then you’d get to a clearing, look out into an abyss of gray, and think, “Wow, I bet this would be awesome if I could see further than two freakin’ feet in front of me!”

[This was my view from the Routeburn Track the first day.]

Also, it became apparent on the first day that the hike was going to be a struggle for S and St. It wasn’t so much of a physical problem (you only walk 6-7 miles a day and you can go slowly), but more of a mental problem. They just didn’t like it.

[A beautiful and huge waterfall along the Routeburn Track. The orange marker in the lower left corner gives you some perspective of its size.]

For S, it didn’t help that she was woefully underequipped. I thought that I was bad because I forget to bring a flashlight, but I was Meriwether Lewis compared to S. For starters, she didn’t want to carry a big load, so she just had a little Jansport backpack, which isn’t waterproof, so a bunch of her clothes got soaked. Also, she didn’t rent a rain jacket, because she had a (cheap) poncho, which tore almost instantly after putting it on, so she got soaked. Also, she only had ankle socks so her feet chafed in her boots. Also… Actually, I’d better stop there. She sometimes reads this thing.

Along the trail there are shelters with mattresses, toilets, and gas stoves, so you aren’t really roughing it. However, the shelters are only heated by a small stove that everybody piles around so it was tough to get dry, and sleeping on a foam mattress with no pillow in a room with fifty other people isn’t exactly ideal. You can definitely hear people snoring (which sucks), but one thing I noticed is that you can’t smell other people’s gas (which is good). I think it gets trapped in the sleeping bag, like neon in a fluorescent bulb.

[The sun shining down on Lake Mackenzie]

On the second day, T and I started off with an hour side trip to a rock with a big split in it that isn’t really all that neat. As we were heading back into the camp, we ran into S and St who were supposed to be on their way along the main trail in the other direction.

[Lake Harris]

Me: Hey, what are you guys doing?

Them: We’re going home?

Me: What? How? We’re in the middle of the trail.

Them: We’re hiking back the other direction to The Divide (where we started) then we’re taking a bus back to Queenstown.

I tried to talk them out of it, but they wouldn’t budge. I didn’t like the idea. I wasn’t worried about the hiking. It’s virtually impossible to lose the trail and you encounter tons of people in either direction, so they wouldn’t get stranded in the woods. But, from The Divide it’s a three hour charter bus ride to Queenstown, and they didn’t have a booking, and they didn’t know exactly where and when the buses run.

Me: How are you going to get back to Queenstown? Your bus reservations are for tomorrow from the other side of the trail.

Them: Buses go back and forth all the time. We’ll catch one. We’ll cry if we have to.

Me: Where’s A? Does she know you guys are leaving?

Them: No. She was ahead of us. You guys have to tell her.

And that was that. I was a bit annoyed to be honest, but ultimately it ended up not being a big deal. T, A, and I finished out the hike and met S and St in Queenstown. (Incidentally, S and St weren’t able to catch a bus all the way to Queenstown from The Divide and had to spend the night in a small town called Te Anau.) If it was only S or only St, I bet that one person would have just finished out the hike, but with two of them, no way. They were able to feed off each other and tap into their hate, turning the other against hiking like the Emperor turning Anakin to the dark side.

Anyway, the rest of the hike was gorgeous. It was forecasted to rain, but didn’t. The second day trail was quite mountainous and basically one long breathtaking view. The track was relatively easy too. There were a few parts that made me sweat, but for the most part we could just cruise along comfortably. In fact, we were routinely well under the estimated times from checkpoint to checkpoint.

The second night T taught A and I a card game popular in Germany called skat. It was fun, but quite complicated, and apparently extremely difficult to master. It’s intricacy and T’s best attempts to explain them to us, became an ongoing joke for the rest of the trip.

The third and final day was the easiest. It was almost all downhill (which actually was bad for A as walking downhill aggravated her injury) and shorter than the other legs. I don’t really have anything else to say about the hike, so I’ll post a few more pics and wrap it up.

[A stream along the Routeburn Track]

[A shot overlooking Routeburn Flats Camp and environs]

[A beautiful blue stream along the Routeburn Track]