Kepler Track - NZ

Walk:  Kepler Track

Sunrise at Luxmoore Hut

Distance/Type: Hike 60km / Loop

Terrain/Rating: Flat lakeside walk, then a slow steady climb into the mountains on the first day followed by undulating mountain and ridge walking down to river plain on second day.
Last one (or 2) days is a relatively flat river valley walk with an occasional short hill.

Start / Finish Times:
Day1: 7:20am / 12:00pm (4.5Hrs),
Day2: 7:00am / 12:00pm (5Hrs)
Day3: 7:30am / 11:00am MoturauHut / 3:00pm Control Gates (7.5hrs Te Anau)

Start / Finish Location:  Te Anau Lakeview Holiday Park.

Map:

Trip Summary:
Another spectacular walk in the South Island of New Zealand, starting, as many do, from the hiking mecca of Te Anau.
This walk officially starts from the "Control Gates" of Lake Te Anau, but an extra 40 mins is added to the walk by starting from our accommodation Lakeview Holiday Park near the DOC offices in Te Anau.
A great variety walk, from lovely views along the lake on Days 1 and 4, spectacular ridge walks on Day 2 and waterfall and river walk on day 3, this is a fantastic, diverse walk to do.
It's a 4 Day hike but it can be done with a long day 3 if required.
You can also book a Tracknet shuttle to pick you up from Rainbow Reach back to Te Anau, they run 3 or 4 buses from there in the afternoon.

Trip Details:

Day 1:
From Lakeview Holiday Park we headed straight across the road to join up with the Lakeside Walk path along Lake Te Anau. Heading left along the lake path you pass the Te Anau bird sanctuary on your way to the Control Gates. There are toilets at the Control Gates.

TeAnau South Pier

Crossing over the control gates the track sign mentions you have 6 hours to your first overnight stop at Luxmoore Hut.



Control Gates

We walk along edge of Lake Te Anau (Dock Bay) for a hour or so through some lush fern gullies before passing the first camping area of Brod Bay.  For campers you'd need to leave here pretty early in the day as the next campsite is near Iris Burn Hut some 20+ km away.

Kepler Track along Dock Bay.

There is a shelter here along with picnic tables, bbq and a toilet. Considering the pretty high standard of most facilities in NZ especially on the other Great Walks, these were surprisingly run down.

Brod Bay

From Brod Bay we head inland and uphill through the forest full of Old Man's beard trees.

Bearded Trees.

 There are occasional glimpses up high of Lake Te Anau along the way.

Lake Te Anau

 An hour or so up the track we walk through some limestone bluffs, this is the steepest uphill part of the walk and stairs are used to get through some of the area.

 Another 30 minutes onwards and we break out of the forest onto the Mt Luxmoore plains ridge. From here there is less than 45 mins to the Luxmoore Hut.

Mt. Luxmoore plains ridge

 The view from here opens up in all directions with spectacular views of Lake Manapouri in the South to Lake Te Anau to your right.

Lake Te Anau

Within 30 minutes Luxmoore Hut starts to come into view along the ridge.

As with most of the huts on NZ Great Walks this one is very well equipped.

We arrived at Luxmoore Hut around noon after leaving Te Anau holiday park at about 7:30 in the morning which allowed us to soak in the amazing views from this prime location.
As with all of these huts, the earlier you arrive, the better the choice of bunk position as its a first in, first served.

Kitchen Views

Neighbours

To pass some of the time you can do a short 30 min side trip to the Luxmoore Caves.


View of hut from Cave sidetrip.

With the lovely sunny weather it's a lovely area to soak up the sights.

Afternoon view of South Fiord.

Day 2:
Being a bit of an early starter, waking up at 6am the next morning I was able to see a beautiful sunrise to start the day.

Low cloud in the early morning.

View back down Kepler Track.

Heading west away from the hut we continue along the mountain plain with views of the South Fiord on our right, the track ahead and Mt Luxmoore in the distance.

Kepler Track.

 30 minutes along the track you'll see Forward Peak in the valley.

Forward Peak.

 Mt Luxmoore. which you will see just left of the track, is a short 15 minute side trip.
There is 50m section of scree you have to negotiate across but the track through it is pretty well worn in and defined.

Mt. Luxmoore

Continuing along the ridge you pass two emergency huts, Forest Burn Hut and another hour to Hanging Valley which are handy to take a break at.  

Both have toilets, picnic table and roof collected water from a tap.

View down to Forest Burn Emergency Hut.

Ridge track to Hanging Valley Emergency Hut.

There is a bit of variance in height along this part of the trail as it works its way around the mountain range. This is a true ridge track between the two huts with great views on both steep sides.

I'm not great with heights, but these are not sheer drops so was quite comfortable with the track.

Hanging Valley Emergency Shelter.

From Hanging Valley hut the track heads South for 20 mins along another ridge down to Iris Burn lookout.  From the lookout it estimates another 1hr 30mins to Iris Burn Hut.

Hanging Valley Track to Iris Burn Lookout at the end.

From the lookout the track zigzags right down through some beautiful moss laden forest for 30 minutes to cross Hanging Valley Stream.

Hanging Valley stream

Another 30 minutes along the well treed track you reach an intersection with the Iris Burn waterfall track.
Another 5 minutes past this intersection is the Iris Burn Hut.
The Day 2 section of the walk took about 5 hours.

Iris Burn hut

Iris Burn Hut is another well appointed hut with plenty of grassy area to sit on.
The camping area is directly next to the hut.

Track to waterfall

We headed back to the intersection to enjoy the walk along the river to view the waterfall.

Iris Burn Waterfall

Day 3:
Heading out the next morning along a nice valley walk within 5 minutes we reach the "Big Slip".
A landslide that cleared out a chunk of vegetation off the side of the mountain during a downpour in 1984.

Big Slip

Within 90 minutes we reach the Rocky Point workcamp and shelter.  There is a pit toilet here.
The sign here conservatively says we are 3 hrs from both Iris Burn and Moturau huts.
Most people would walk it well within those times.

Rocky Point hut

30 minutes on we head through forest with a few small hills and switchbacks.

Switch backs

Another 60 minutes we reach the shoreline of Lake Manapouri.

Lake Manapouri

Within 5 minutes we are at Moturau Hut. It has taken about 3 hours to reach here.

Moturau Hut

There are lovely views from the hut of Lake Manapouri.

Moturau Hut views

Day 3/4:
With it being only 11am I decided to have lunch and then push on to finish the hike rather than stay overnight here.
30 minutes along, the track changes to a boardwalk through wetlands with a viewing platform at Spirit Lake. 
We cross a stream via a footbridge and reach the shoreline of the Waiau River in about 1 hour.

Waiau River

This is downstream on the river that is fed from the Control Gates we crossed at the start of the hike.
30  mins walk along the river track we reach the Rainbow Reach footbridge.
On the other side of the river is a picnic area with toilets, picnic tables, a shelter and tank water.
The Rainbow Reach carpark is right next to the picnic area and could be used as an early exit.
A couple of companies can arrange a pickup from here.

Rainbow Reach footbridge

The rest of the track follows the river for another 2 hours back to the Control Gates.

Control Gates

From there it is approximately 40 mins back to the holiday park..


A great video of the trip can be located here

Milford Track - NZ

Walk: The Milford Track.

Distance/Type: 4 Days 3 Nights Hike 8.8km / 11.3km / 12km / One Way

Terrain/Rating: Undulating terrain on varying surfaces. Medium.

Start / Finish Time: 9am(10:45)-12:00pm/8:00am-1:05pm/7:00am-11:30pm
1:15hrs /        5:00 hrs / 4:30hrs

Start / Finish Location:  TeAnau/TeAnauDowns/Glade Wharf to Sandfly Point/Milford Sound

Trip Summary:
The best known iconic great walk of New Zealand.
A well spaced out hike with spectacular scenery over all 3 days and very good accomodation locations starting with a very easy walk on the first day. 

Trip Details:
The first day involves taking a 8:30am bus pickup from the TeAnau DOC via Tracknet
You take a 30 minute bus ride along the picturesque Lake TeAnau to rendevous with your ferry at Te Anau Downs. 

Cruising

The Ferry leaves at about 9:30am and cruises for about 1 hour where it then drops you off at Glades Wharf and the start of the Milford Track. Markers appear along the track at every mile.

Disembarking at Glades Wharf.

The first day is a lovely easy 1-1.30 hr flat walk following along the Clinton River.
After a 10 minute walk along the tree-lined track you reach the luxurious Glades House. This is length of the walk for the first day for guided groups. For the rest of us its just another hour or so to our destination, Clinton Hut.

From the banks of the river at Glade House you can view the first of many river crossings along this track.

Clinton River.

After crossing the bridge we follow the left bank of the Clinton River, after about 30 minutes you'll pass the 2mile marker and reach Dore Pass.



A few minutes further on the Wetlands walk sidetrip appears on your left.  This is a 10 minute loop track through the forest with information about the flora and fauna in the area.

Wetlands Walk.

Another 15 minutes along the track and before you know it the side track to the well appointed Clinton Hut appears. There are 2 separate sleeping quarters and a separate kitchen with plenty of eating and resting areas inside and out.

Clinton Hut.

With such a short walk the rest of the day can be spent lazing by the banks of the Clinton River if you are lucky enough with the weather. 

Clinton Hut beach.

As with a lot of the walks in NZ a lovely area to relax, but be prepared for the sandflies.

South Island Robin.

The next day we continue our walk along the Clinton River for 30 minutes before it opens out into the Clinton West Valley.

Clinton River.

This is the area most likely to flood in inclimate weather.  There are fluro orange poles here incase the water level is so high that you can't see where to put your feet.

We were so lucky with the weather on this trip to have spectacular views of the valley.

Clinton West Valley.

Along the valley there is a side trip to Hidden Lake off to the left.. If you are lucky enough that the wind is still you may get perfect reflections off its surface. The side trip takes about 15 minutes.

Hidden Lake.

The path continues along the valley firstly back into Beech Forest for a few kms and then it starts to open up into grasslands, where another side trip appears, this time to Prarie Lake.

Prarie Lake.

After about 3 1/2 to 4 hours the track goes back into Beech Forest and then starts a rocky climb to the BusStop Shelter.

BusStop Shelter.

Just past the BusStop we cross over Marlenes Creek and then scramble along a rocky track for a few kms.  This shelter would be used if Marlenes creek was flooded.

Marlenes Creek bridge.

Another 1 1/2 to 2 hours you slowly work your way uphill before reaching Mintaro Hut.  Once again another very well appointed hut.

Mintaro Hut.

As with most of the walk you'll get to the next hut early afternoon if you leave at 7 or 8am.  This will give you plenty of time to rest or checkout the surrounding area. At Mintaro Hut there is a lake just a little further along the track.

Lake Mintaro.

If the weather is fine and you have spare time (you should allow at least 3 hours return) you should head up to MacKinnons Pass for the views as you can never guarantee the weather on these trips. Unfortunately I didn't and walked through fog over the pass the next morning, as you'll see.

Track just past Mintaro Hut.

We were awakened at about 9:30pm when a huge rumble in the distance was heard, sounding like an avalanche.
The warden on duty had a look around and mentioned it may have been a rockfall but we wouldn't know until daylight.

In the morning the warden said there had been a rockfall on the other side of the valley a few kms away. We didn't know at the time but this may have coincided with the earthquakes in Christchurch.

The third days walk is the hardest and begins with a climb up to Mackinnon Pass within a hour of walking. As with the climate of this region a few hours can be the difference between fog covered mountains or brilliant sunshine.

As is my way I was up early and got the fog option upon reaching the hut on the Pass.
Some great views over the ridge and the track follows some lovely cascading waterfalls as it works its way down into the valley.

To Be Continued.


A great video of the track can be found here.