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Te Anua - Routeburne Track
Entry 19 of 22 | show all | print this entry |
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I started out his morning at the Tasman Glacier and spent about an hour hiking around the base of Tasman Lake. It's not a very pretty lake, but a living geological gem of a glacier melting and retreating. The top of the glacier is a three hour drive through very rough back country and I didn't want to risk that with a two wheel drive car.
Tours of Tasman glacier can be booked at the hotel and there were tons of tourists lined up to do just that. I decided to get on the road because I knew the drive to Te Anua would take about three hours at least.
The drive wasn't too bad as all the traffic seemed to be going in the other direction. I did run into one accident on my way from Lake Wanaka to Queenstown. It was just one car who apparently lost control of their vehicle even though there are signs posted everywhere to watch your speed. In case your wondering, I haven't had any other accidents, although I did see two rather funny ones traveling the South Island on remote gravel roads at that. Lake Wanaka attracts alot of tourists and seems to be a popular hang out spot for teenagers to cruise up and down playing music obnoxiously loud. The traffic to Lake Te Anua wasn't too bad, but when I arrived every motel had a no vacancy sign. I decided to book two nights a the top ten holiday park which was right across the street from Lake Te Anua. It is very windy by the lake and I was afraid I was gonna be in for another blizzardly night at the campsite.
To my surprise and delight, the tent site was on a terrace and had bushes surrounding it to protect from the wind. The nights spent in the tent were better than in Queenstown because the sites were laid out better.
I started the morning and drove an hour north to an area along the Milford road called the divide, which is a drop off and pick up site for walkers of the Greenstone and Routeburne Track. The first part of the track had many uphill switch backs until finally peaking out and going downhill. This side of the track didn't seem to be as pretty or well maintained as the starting point near Paradise by Lake Worktop and seemed to suffer from too much use. The views of the white capped mountains at the first part of the track were spectacular and I did hear one walker mention something about them looking like the Colorado Rockies. I've never been to the Colorado rockies but I guess they do look similar from pictures. I walked all the way to Lake McKenzie before heading back (Lake McKenzie wasn't as big as I had imagined it; maybe I am thinking of Lake McKellar).
I know it seems odd to only walk this far and walk back, but it was all I had the energy for at the time. I found this side of the track not as beautiful as the area I hiked the week before and it just sorta felt like any other walking trail one might encounter hiking at home.
I headed back to the campsite, watched a movie in the campsites TV room and went to bed in my sheltered tent. I woke the net morning and booked the Doubtful Sound Cruise which crosses Lake Manappouri and the power station. It was a beautiful day and not a cloud in the sky. The doubtful sound was very beautiful, full of waterfalls streaming from the glacier carved hillsides. The only wildlife we saw were some seals at the end of the doubtful sound where it meets the Tasman Sea. I was kinda hoping to see some dolphins, an orca fin, or maybe even a sighting of a right whale, but none were to be seen which was a little disappointing. I think maybe the wildlife ran away from where they new the humans would be (just a hunch).
The sound was full of bird calls and lush with native trees and ferns just little in the way of marine life in the doubtful sound. The tour bus ride back to the ferry boat included a tour of the Manapouri power station. The drive into the tunnel underneath the sound was pretty cool and it was pretty wet in certain spots. A few hikers from the dusky track joined the ferry ride back to port of call Lake Manapouri. The dusky track traverses many remote spots of the Doubtful Sound, takes about ten days to complete, and is considered one of the toughest tracks to hike on the south island. The weather was wonderful for the trip but I did feel a little disappointed I didn't get to see more wildlife in the sound. Other than that it was a great way to spend the day and well worth the money.
After the ferry docked, I decided to stop by the Kepler Track to check out the Waiui River which was another filming site for Lord of the Rings. I walked across the swing bridge and a small portion of the track which was very lush and green. I headed back to the campsite and checked out the maps for the southern scenic route, the southernmost point of the South Island.
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