For the past 3 days and 2 nights I have been hiking through the mountains on the famous Routeburn Track. It is a 32 km track through the mountains of Southern New Zealand with a 2,200 ft elevation gain. It was beautiful. The area of New Zealand that we were in is actually considered rain forest because it rains 285 days a year there.... but for us, it was beautiful blue skies.
The fist day didn't consist of a lot of hiking, but began with a boat cruise around Milford Sound. In Milford Sound, the mountains drop right into the Tasman sea. It is gorgeous. On the 2 hour cruise, we were able to see bottle nosed dolphins, fur seals, and even penguins (we were actually pretty close to Antarctica). There were waterfalls dumping into the sea, and the clouds just sort of hung on to the mountains, giving it a really cool hazy look.
After the cruise it was off to the Track. We strapped on our big packs containing our tents, stoves, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, food, water and clothes. Even though we tried to pack light, the pack probably weighed about 15 kg or so. And we were off. The track was a gradual uphill through the forest, with great views of snow capped mountains every now and then. We hiked about 3 1/2 hours that day before we came upon a water fall. The waterfall was beautiful and was right next to the path so we stripped down to our underwear and went behind the waterfall.... the cool water felt so good, and it was absolutely beautiful. Camp was another hour hard up hill, and when we got there, we set up camp and cooked dinner.
The second day was the hardest, with about 8 hours of hiking. The morning started out with a tough uphill track, and evened out once we were above the tree line. The views were amazing. Snow capped mountains with clouds settled in the valley. It was very peace full and beautiful. After another steep uphill climb, we were almost to the top. It was another 1/2 hr of super steep uphill to reach the summit of the mountain... but it was worth it. The sky was so clear that you could see all the way to the Tasman Sea. Amazing. Then it was a hard afternoon with some steep downhill. The steep down hill hurt my knees, so I was happy about 3 1/2 hours later when we finally reached camp for the night.
The last day was a piece of cake with an easy downhill walk back to the car park (parking lot).
The hike was tough, but worth every second. The views were amazing and the weather cooperated very nicely.
Today we are in Wanaka where we went mountain biking down a mountain this morning. It was kinda scary at first, because you are going down a mountain on a curvy loose dirt road with lots of rocks on a bike that I didn't exactly know how to control the best, but after I got the hang of it... it was actually kinda fun. I might try some more tomorrow, to practice my new-found skillz.
We will be in Wanaka for another day and then off to Christchurch again before flying off the the land of Australia. New Zealand was pretty great.... lets see if Australia can top it.
The fist day didn't consist of a lot of hiking, but began with a boat cruise around Milford Sound. In Milford Sound, the mountains drop right into the Tasman sea. It is gorgeous. On the 2 hour cruise, we were able to see bottle nosed dolphins, fur seals, and even penguins (we were actually pretty close to Antarctica). There were waterfalls dumping into the sea, and the clouds just sort of hung on to the mountains, giving it a really cool hazy look.
After the cruise it was off to the Track. We strapped on our big packs containing our tents, stoves, sleeping bags, sleeping pads, food, water and clothes. Even though we tried to pack light, the pack probably weighed about 15 kg or so. And we were off. The track was a gradual uphill through the forest, with great views of snow capped mountains every now and then. We hiked about 3 1/2 hours that day before we came upon a water fall. The waterfall was beautiful and was right next to the path so we stripped down to our underwear and went behind the waterfall.... the cool water felt so good, and it was absolutely beautiful. Camp was another hour hard up hill, and when we got there, we set up camp and cooked dinner.
The second day was the hardest, with about 8 hours of hiking. The morning started out with a tough uphill track, and evened out once we were above the tree line. The views were amazing. Snow capped mountains with clouds settled in the valley. It was very peace full and beautiful. After another steep uphill climb, we were almost to the top. It was another 1/2 hr of super steep uphill to reach the summit of the mountain... but it was worth it. The sky was so clear that you could see all the way to the Tasman Sea. Amazing. Then it was a hard afternoon with some steep downhill. The steep down hill hurt my knees, so I was happy about 3 1/2 hours later when we finally reached camp for the night.
The last day was a piece of cake with an easy downhill walk back to the car park (parking lot).
The hike was tough, but worth every second. The views were amazing and the weather cooperated very nicely.
Today we are in Wanaka where we went mountain biking down a mountain this morning. It was kinda scary at first, because you are going down a mountain on a curvy loose dirt road with lots of rocks on a bike that I didn't exactly know how to control the best, but after I got the hang of it... it was actually kinda fun. I might try some more tomorrow, to practice my new-found skillz.
We will be in Wanaka for another day and then off to Christchurch again before flying off the the land of Australia. New Zealand was pretty great.... lets see if Australia can top it.
3 comments:
Julie,
Amazing photos with great blue skies and mountains. I am so envious. You have become quite the mountain woman.
Love
Aunt Kathi
I don't quite beat Kathi to your blog but I do enjoy all the photos. I printed some of them off for DAD but made him come to the computer to see the group shots. I do love the mountains. It is so "picture perfect! Looks like the camera is working just great. Love a lot. MOM
These pictures are amazing! I wish I was there.
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