Routeburn and Caples

Completing two fantastic walks in Fiordland we were ready to hit the hills in a new area, and hopefully somewhere that didn't rain as much. Unlucky for us the long string of mountains which stretches up the south islands seems to create the same sort of weather and that's normally windy, with a dash of rain! nevertheless we were determined to explore the Glenorchy area what ever the weather.

Wind, rain and snow down to 600m... Even after the two and half hour drive you could tell we were still close to Fiordland. In fact all we had done is drive round the back of one of the many mountain ranges and sat all most in between two of the national parks; Fiordland and Aspiring. We choose this area because its the epicentre of many great trips into an area we hadn't explored but with the weather forecast most of our desired trips started to look a bit to daunting. Trying to pick the best option to give maximum enjoyment and satisfaction with a crummy forecast is all most like playing the lottery. You have a ton of numbers that you want to play and you want to play the right ones and don't want to look back after and kick your self for not picking the other options. So after a whole morning of discussion, we finally settled on a plan.

The Routeburn and Caples combination is a 60kmish horseshoe that took in two alpine saddles and three stunning valleys, mixing a busy 'Great Walk' with a quite back country fishing valley. With only one day on the forecast looking good, we decided to pack the days full of walking so to be on the highest point of the route in good weather. This meant that we couldn't use each and every hut and as freedom camping is allowed on the Caples, we planned for a 3-4 day camping trip.

The one hour walk to the campsite on the Routeburn was done in the evening after the afternoon was spent packing up the kit and sorting food. The snow and sleet, through the jungle like forest gave a very surreal start to the trek, but soon the smell of wood smoke from the first hut and camp site reminded me of where I was. Due to the snow the ranger at the hut offered the posh new porch for the campers to set their tents up in; dry tent, outside gas cooker, tap and space to shelter under, I was surprised when we were the only ones to take the offer up.

Inside camping

Maybe the other campers had known, that once we were settled in bed and the light began to fade, that a Kea would hop under the porch and invent a new game. This game can only be described as a cross species game of the kids game 'What's the time Mr Wolf'. The cheeky Kea would bounce towards us until we'd shine a light on him, where he'd turn tail and hop off to a safer distance. This went back and forth a few times and the Kea used all sorts of techniques, he'd use the benches and posts to hide most of his body behind and peer around the object, he'd fly off and play with a rubber mat so we'd zip the tent back up and he'd also run off into the bush squawking giving us the impression he was bored. He definitely wasn't bored, as this game lasted an hour. Normally I wouldn't have minded playing this entertaining game but I knew that the kea wouldn't have just came and said hello, they love to chew things up, just like a teething puppy but keas can chew up more than your slippers. I once read about a soft top 4x4 left at Aurthers Pass in New Zealand, the keas had chewed through the roof and got at the seats, steering wheel, dash board and electrics. Their damage was so extensive that the car had to be towed back to Christchurch. So when laying in bed watching the tent roof moving to a tugging motion I was a little concerned. Even after the prevoius nights fun he still decided that the morning was a good play time too and once again at 5am we were looking out at this pesky Kea.
Despite all the fun and games of the previous night and morning we got away unharmed at 7:30 ready for a bigish day. I felt a little bit of envy when walking past the Routeburn falls hut, which is perched on top of wooden legs, looking out over the Routeburn valley. This soon left me as we ascended onto the newly lowered snow line and wandered up towards the first saddle of our route. Blue sky, moody clouds, a dusting of snow and only a hand full of people on the trail made our pass over Harris saddle a contrast to our other great walks. The kilometres seemed to fall away as we traversed the hill side with a breathtaking view along the Hollyford valley to the sea, with the highest mountain in Fiordland Mt Tutoko, towering above us and the valley. After 6 hours of walking we reached the second campsite of the Routeburn and a sign indicating our campsite for the night was another 3 hour walk... this went soon enough, helped by regular chats with folk going the other way. Arriving at the campsite we weren't convinced it was free so instead of worring about a Kea chewing up the tent, we were worrying about a ranger demanding a ticket we didn't have, lucky no one turned up. Before falling asleep that night I had a chuckle to myself, mid winter in Queenstown I wished for the cold and snow and now after cooking in a snow shower at 600m I was starting to wish for the warmth of summer.

Spring snow

Just above Routeburn falls hut

Looking across Hollyford valley

Waking early we made our way onto our second saddle and marvelled at the jagged peak of Mt Christina trailing cloud. The next 20km descended through sub alpine to beech forest finally ending in alpine meadows. This was the best weather day, which gave us a great contrasting view up the valley with lush green meadows and forests against the grey and white alpine peaks that enclosed the views, capped by blue sky. This made for the best campsite of the trip especially as it was only an hour from the trail head.

Mt Christina

Stream shot

Meadow campsite

Another early morning wake up call in the form of some curious cows. Maybe it was the green tent, the snoring or the smell of the unwashed pan, but these cows were so interested in us that they hung around watching until we had fully packed down. This was the day we had worried about, 30+km of hitching on a dead end road. An hour wait and a chat to some guys working on one of the swing bridges, we were bored and decided to start walking. Another hour of lake side views and our first lift picked us up, a couple of kiwis we had spoken to on the Caples, they kindly dropped us off at the road junction towards our car. Another 20 minutes walk and two non-pick ups, our second lift picked us up, another walker we spoke to but this time on the Routeburn who was heading back up for some fishing.
We were relieved to reach our car, a DOC ranger had said that transport for the road section is best arranged as she had heard of a guy taking a day to hitch it, but lucky for us we had taken about 2 hours with half of it spent walking. Needless to say the fates had aligned and we have learnt to chat to everyone on the trail!
All in all this was a nice trip, with varied weather and scenery topped with a reminder of the kindness of the people in New Zealand.