New Zealand: South Island Vacation

After a stressful experience in the Auckland (Madhouse) Airport on Monday, we were relieved to make our flight to Queenstown and get there before lunch.  I fed an ugly dog some of my Bangers and Mash.

One of their only failings: NZ does not make good sausage

A 2-hour drive and we were in Te Anau where we had an Airbnb for 3 nights.  We didn’t have a ton of time to hike but we walked along the beach at Doubtful Sound.

Doubtful Sound - I don’t know what either word means in this context 

Then we did a short walk on a random loop we found by a river.

Balloon Loop, I think

We knew the big fun would come in the next two days anyway.  Before leaving for the South Island, we didn’t know which trails we’d choose yet, but I ran with a couple guys in the Tarawera 102k that both highly recommended the Kepler Track.  With the weather looking much more ideal on Wednesday, we opted for the Routeburn Track on Tuesday.  It was socked in with clouds but still a great experience.  Best part was a 600-foot tall waterfall.

Routeburn Track \ Earland Falls.  Can anyone find Julie?

The (other) best part was Lake Makenzie.  That was our turnaround spot after ~8 miles out.

PC: Julie (Joe was finding the lunch rock)

On the way back we detoured up Key Summit.  It was too cloudy to see much so I’ll add a picture of Julie going through the little nature walk at the top.

It was pretty neat up there despite the clouds

We ended up with about 18 miles on the day, just 3 days after Tarawera, so we were both happy to eat a really good (large) steak dinner and go to bed early.

I ate all mine then got to eat Julie’s fat.

Highlight of the vacation so far was the Kepler Track on Wednesday.  On the way up, we spotted a Kea, a wild mountain parrot.  He was just sitting there next to the trail, digging his beak into a log and didn’t seem to mind us hanging out with him for a couple minutes.

Kea

It took about 7 miles to get above the tree line but then instantaneously it opened up 360 degrees and we were blown away.

Looking toward Mt. Luxmore

The rest of the track (Kiwi for “trail”) was simply amazing.  I just got hit over and over with gratitude for finding someone that loves doing this as much as me (that’s Julie), and that we have the ability to take on challenges like this that give such great rewards.

On the trail to Luxmore

Finally we summited after nearly 12 miles and took in the view.  Then, we ate on it.

4000 feet above Lake Te Anau, our starting point

We did some bonus miles after that, as I wanted to get in some trail running.  Finally we turned around and detoured a bit to explore some caves on the way back.

Luxmore Caves - kinda dark and cramped but still awesome

We were a little speedier on the way down and finished our 26-mile day in time to grab a 5:30pm dinner.  We desperately needed the calories - it was Ash Wednesday the day we did Kepler, and we’d only been fueled with liquid calories and one tomato sandwich each, all day.  Fish and chips never tasted so good!

Thursday was the day of our flight to Australia, but naturally we got to squeeze in another quick hike up to the top of the Skyline gondolas near the airport in Queenstown.  We climbed 1500’ in less than 2 miles.

Poor Julie, I won’t let her rest even one day (she likes it)


View of Lake Wakatipu near Queensland


Wooden chairs occur naturally in New Zealand

Quick lunch in Queenstown and now we’re headed to Sydney!

Thai food also occurs naturally in NZ

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