Friday 4th March: Cloudy with some sunshine, cool 9°C to 17°C
Routeburn Falls Hut to Queenstown: Walk 8k, 9.40am to 1.30pm: Shuttle Bus Dep 2pm arr Queenstown 4pm
FAQ's of the Routeburn Huts
Looking down to Routeburn Flats
Coffee at the Routeburn Flats Hut
Beautiful Routeburn
Wobbly on the swing bridge
Crystal clear Routeburn
Raymond and Stephanie
Rafting Lessons
Ready set push
Go!
Routeburn Track
400 yr old tree trunk
Graham's shortcut doesn't work
Last into the shelter
Lunch on the platform
Milton passes on his pole
6 Macpacs
Macpac
End of the Routeburn Track
Raymond and Stephanie
Bonnie Jean Restaurant
Glenorchy Boat Shed
Cloudy day
Highlight of today was doing out final day's hike down the beautiful Routeburn and finishing both the Kepler and Routeburn Tracks with no incidents.
It's a lazy start with no need to rush. We have a leisurely breakfast of tea and porridge at 8am but after sweeping the hut floor and chatting to Ranger John, it's 9.40am when we head off. It's not raining but a rather coolish 9°C when we walk briskly down hill through the forest and in just over an hour we're at the Routeburn Falls Hut having another cup of tea/coffee. There's sandflies outside so we sit inside chatting to the ranger who comes from the North West of Tasmania and she and Donna are keen to talk politics - I suppose someone needs to take an interest in politics.
At 11.30 we're off again down thye track following the beautiful Routeburn. There's a group of people learning the ropes of river rafting, jumping into the icy water and scrambling over the rocks as part of teh training. Onwards down the track and after just over one hour, we can see the carpark at the routeburn Shelter. Graham decides to take a shortcut across the flats but can't cross the raging torrent so he needs to come back up the hill and walk the extra 30minutes round the hill to the bridge across to the carpark - not happy Graham!
Lunch on the platform then at 2pm we load our packs into the trailer of the the shuttle bus which leaves at 2.10pm, minus a booked hiker. It's 30 minutes into Glenorchy where the bus stops for 20 minutes waiting for other hikers from other walks. Jenny, Donna and Milton head for a cafe, Ian and I walk to the Bonnie Jean Cafe for a photo then to the Glenorchy boat shed and graham strolls around looking at petrol prices.
The bus leaves at 3pm for a trip down the lake to Queenstown and drops us outside the YHA Lakefront at 4pm. We've soon checked in and retrieved our cycling bags stored in the tine shed and up to our rooms re-arranging packs for the 8am bus trip to Tekapo tomorrow.
Time for a shower, some blogging, and a cup of tea before we all meet downstairs to walk to the Halo Cafe for dinner with the other 7 cyclists from Donna and Milton's group. It's an almost warm evening as we stroll along the lake to the town centre, firstly to find an ATM to get cash to pay our cycle hire man, then to do some shopping for breakfast/lunch tomorrow, and then to find the Halo Cafe.
The drinks are pretty ordinary, as judged by the bitter beer and tasteless wine, but the food is magnificent. Ian had Blue Cod, and I had the nicest RibEye steak with chuncky fried potatoes and salad. The group is a nice group, all 60+ and we're looking forward to the bike ride, though I could easily start another trek tomorrow - planning for Italy and France in June will be the next project. It's still a mild evening as we walk back to the YHA and go to bed about 10.30.