Kepler Track

On to a new adventure! The Kepler Track is one of the nine Great Walks of New Zealand!

We walked along a lake, through the forest, up to the mountain peak, along the ridge, and down into the deep valley along the river. Right at the beginning, we encountered a sign that informed us that the track could also be done in half the time, depending on fitness and, of course, good weather! We thought it was an April Fool's joke because in a place where it rains 270 days a year, there aren't many opportunities to have such a day.

So we set off. As we climbed up the mountain, we even had the opportunity to witness a helicopter flight and landing at the nearby hut. During the rest of the hike, we had a beautiful ridge walk, although almost blown away by the wind and soaked in cold rain. The photos might speak for themselves. However, if a snowstorm were to come, at least there were emergency huts along the way to provide shelter! Regarding the track, it can be said that despite the rugged landscape above 1000 meters, there is a variety of colors: green, black, red, and grayish-purple rocks colored our path. The ridge walk offered us a magnificent view of the neighboring Fiordland. Besides nature, we also encountered Keas again, which followed us. But not only the Keas are clever, so we didn't give them any food from our rationed supplies. We also encountered cute little birds that are not shy at all and very curious, climbing on feet and nibbling on fingers. Others made sounds that movie fans might be familiar with. In the forest sections, we felt like we were in The Hunger Games from The Hunger Games and the bird sound was our 'parachute box flying in with emergency supplies for survival'. The forest also had an enchanting mystical impression because the trees were covered with roots on the branches, which glowed white due to water absorption. Our only overnight stay on this track was at the Iris Burn Hut, a very inviting hut with countless smells of around 50 hikers and their wet clothing, draped around the small warming stove. Note in New Zealand: Never leave your shoes on the floor! Tie everything up as high as possible. Because Keas also like to steal shoes at night (which, understandably, have to stay outside the hut because of the dirt from the hike) and fly them into the surrounding bushes, which, as the ranger of the Iris Burn Hut told us, often leads to morning amusement when a hiker has disregarded this rule and has to find his or her shoes in the extensive thicket the next morning. It's like looking for a needle in a haystack. Just like everywhere else, we also met new people here, including Dutch people, with whom we enjoyed playing cards. This is where we also encountered sandflies, everywhere, what a joy, those pesky little creatures.

After 2 days of hiking, 16 hours of walking, 2000 meters of elevation gain, and 60km, we completed our Great Walk. As a summary, it can be said that countless movies were probably filmed in this landscape, everything looks like Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, etc. (We absolutely have to watch the movies again afterwards, as we have now been to all of the filming locations ourselves). Our new hitchhiking score after the third hitchhiking: 1-2-1. We happened to meet very nice French people on our hiking trail, who gave us a ride in their van on their bed.