New Zealand's Routeburn Track hike: Jan 2017

The Petersen family went to New Zealand on Christmas eve in 2015 and celebrated Christmas and New Years in spectacular Queenstown on the shores of Lake Wakatipu surrounded by the Remarkables mountain range.

We stayed at The Heritage which was walking distance to town and had a lovely Christmas dinner as a family for the first time away from Australia.  No Christmas presents this year as the main gifts were the adventure holiday.

Our action packed holiday included tandem paragliding from Coronet Peak - which was amazing we floated and spun with the thermals down to the valley below,  we had French crepes at Arrowtown and explored the Chinatown miners settlement,  went white water rafting at Skipper's Canyon with Family Adventures the ride there was just as amazing on an old miners track which wound its way around steep ridges following the Upper Shot Over River.  We did a day long drive on the wilds of the West Coast to Fox Glacier to do a heli-glacier flight only to have it cancelled due to the bad weather that had settled in.  We stayed in the Fox Glacier township at a nice AirBnB,  had a few good meals out, went to the thermal springs and had a look at the Kiwi Wildlife Centre which had a few in a darkened enclosure.   We walked to the dirty blocked off snout of the glacier which wasn't that inspiring, though disappointed we were gladenned by the fact that the operators are alot more cautious now due to a fatal crash 6 mnth earlier in similar conditions. The weather is notorious on the West Coast for continuous rain!

The main purpose for our trip to cross the Tasman however was to do the Routeburn Track - a life long dream of mine.  The trek was for 3 days with a guided group called Ultimate Hikes.   We travelled with 40 people from Australia, USA, Japan and Germany.  The group stayed in 2 beautiful lodges with 3 course meals  and a bar which helped you recover from the days trek.  All the food is helicoptered in so in stark contrast to the independent walkers we had everything supplied and waiting for us at the lodges.

We started the walk in rain which then cleared,  there were also predictions of snow at 1200m which didn't eventuate thank goodness as in a November trekking group they had to be heli-lifted across the pass.

The trek was for 30km with walking days of 4 - 6hrs depending on your fitness.   Alot of it was a rough and rocky ascent/decent up to Key Summit, Lake Howden, LakeMackenzie - which is beautiful, the glassy lake reflects the surrounding mountains this is where our first lodge was.  We traversed Hollyford Face to Harris Saddle which was dramatic.  The peaks in the area were still snow capped.  The last night was spent at Routeburn Falls overlooking a stunning valley of grassy flats and the Routeburn River.  We were so impressed by the kids energy and enthusiasm for a different holiday which was technology free and physically challenging.  The kids want to do more walks for future holidays, and definitely want to come back to NZ to see more.

Paragliding off Coronet Peak looking out towards The Remarkables.

The paragliders riding the thermal updraft from the valley.

The old gold rush panning town of Arrowtown.

On the shores of Wakatipu Queenstown.

The rainy start to The Routeburn Trek.

In the mossy beech forests.

Lake Howden stop.

The loud, wet and windy Earland Falls 80m.

Mackenzie Lodge

Lake Mackenzie - mirror reflections.

 

 

Ocean Peak Corner - high point for morning tea.

 

 

Lake Harris.

The Routeburn Falls Lodge.

The kids in the group quickly formed friendships and amused themselves the old fashioned way.

The grassy Routeburn river flats. 

The cheeky Tom Tits which would rummage around your feet if you disturbed the earth.

Driving out through Skippers Canyon to Upper Shot Over river - the drive was category 4 and the
white water was category 2!

Oren was demonstrating retrieval. 

Rock jumping into the freezing river!

Walking to the receding Fox Glacier.

The 'snout' of the glacier.