Woche 9 - Kepler Track, Milford Sounds, Te Anau + Queenstown

The week starts with the Kepler Track. My second real multi-day hike, where you walk directly from Te Anau for an hour to the start, then walk a loop through forests, along mountains and from hut to hut and then end up back in Te Anau. In total, that's around 70km, which was very doable in 4 days and was much more fun and relaxing than strenuous. The first hut was probably the most beautiful, Luxmore Hut, located almost at the top of Mount Luxmore. From there you could watch the sunset and sunrise over the opposite mountains, lakes and fjords of the Fiordland National Park.

On this hike there was again an animal from which you had to closely protect all your belongings. And this time I didn't take a real picture either, oops (please google the picture yourself). These are the only Alpine parrots 'Kea' in existence that, according to New Zealanders, are as smart as a 5-year-old child (or a 7-year-old Australian child😂). They have apparently locked people in the outdoor toilets from the outside and like to tear apart a few tent walls out of curiosity. In addition, everything that can be carried in flight is carried away. They just can't float, so you have to hang everything up 😂

On the second day, the most beautiful part of the hike was about to begin, which I wasn't aware of beforehand because I generally don't do a lot of research, but rather just start walking😃 It started straight away to the summit of Mount Luxmore, where from now on I was faced with icy winds whipped around the bare legs (always 10 layers on top + always shorts on the bottom = perfect tramping outfit, just looks like shit):

Well, in any case, we walked along the ridge line(?) of the mountain almost all day until finally, after a few hours, we had to descend. The mountains look so great here because they have these orange, fluffy bushes everywhere🥰:

The descent wasn't that great, but I survived without any knee pain and then the next surprise came at the Iris Burn Hut: a million sand flies that sting like hell. Who was too cheap to buy mosquito spray again? Rightgggggg! The park rangers (most American word ever) still gave some information about the area and the track in the evening. The ranger (Birgit😂) said I would have had a chance of seeing a kiwi at the Iris Burn Hut, but since it was raining heavily, I ended up lying down when the alarm clock went off at 1 a.m. I regret it a little.

Day 3, went through the Iris Burn??? I've been wondering all day what a burn is supposed to be, and I was finally able to google it:

Aha. Just say river...

But the burn was very beautiful and we also spotted a rare bird (Takahe, which was declared extinct at some point). The next hut was on the beach by the lake and when I arrived I ran straight into the water, which felt absolutely great after three days without a shower. There were also a few real characters in the hut, so I almost preferred to listen rather than join in on the conversation. My favorite was a Texas lady who was very harsh, direct and loud, who I later found out was once a police sargeant. Oh, of course that explains a lot!

On the last day I just went back, which was relatively quick, and then someone even took me to Te Anau and saved me the last hour of walking👍🏼

What followed was a very crisis-filled day for me regarding travel planning. Due to dissatisfaction with the job search, a country that I was satisfied with and a general feeling of cold, I have now had to put a lot of things around (Big things coming🤫🤭)

The next day was the big trip to Milford Sound (the first and probably only tourist tour I bought here). While we're googling:

So I booked a bus - cruise - bus tour (with lunch!!!). In the morning I met a Slovakian woman (Lujza) in my room (more precisely my glamping tent) who happened to have booked the same tour with the same company, time etc. So we passed the bus ride easily and were able to enjoy the great nature together on the boat. Lunch was included on the boat, which was so delicious that it was one of the highlights of the day😂 we really dug it in!🍽️ There was also bright sunshine, which is an extreme rarity there! It rains there about 300 days a year, which usually causes large waterfalls. However, we had a clear view of the fjords. So it's beautiful no matter what form it takes. It is also called the eighth wonder of the world!

My stay in Te Anau was rather unspectacular after that, as I mainly did travel planning and booked flights. We then went back to Queenstown for one night, basically as a layover. But it was a very well spent evening because I met Sophie (from Holland, met in Nelson) again and we *ran* into the lake again for sunset (very cold). Our hostel actually had a spacious, clean sauna where we met the next group straight away. We then went to the lake and sauna and then went to eat Fergburger Burger again (where the Sweet Bambi was) and then a late night ice cream (our tradition from Nelson😋). I still like Queenstown the best of all the cities. Despite a lot of tourists, there is just a pleasant atmosphere with lots of restaurants, bars, cafes and lots of other things to do. It reminds me a bit of Banff. A little town between the mountains with cute stone houses etc.

The week ends with the eight hour bus ride to Christchurch. On the way we pass Mount Cook and Lake Tekapo, where I'm really hoping for some good photo stops! For breakfast I stood on the mat at the Ferg Bakery (it's a whole Ferg Empire). There are a lot of pies in NZ due to the English influence and sooner or later I had to try one anyway. The Venison (= deer meat, new word learned) and Portobello Mushroom Pie was super delicious, but it's a bit heavy on my stomach at 7:30 in the morning😃

See you next week🌞🌍