We started the day off with a bus ride to the head of the trail. The drive was along the side of the lake that connects Queenstown to Glenorchy. At 10am we were at the trailhead and ready to begin our tramp.
The first couple of hours were in the woods and through the trees we could see amazing bluffs and mountains. There were numerous swinging bridge crossings.
For lunch we stopped off at Routeburn flats hut which had amazing views of the flats. At first we set up lunch outside in a field but there were too many sandflies and we quickly relocated to inside the hut. Lunch was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with a hunk of cheddar cheese and an apple.
Here is a view of the flats from further up the trail:
The next couple of hours were spent hiking up through the mountains until we reached Routeburn Falls Hut around 3pm. The huts had an amazing view of the valley and mountains around us.
We put down our packs, picked our bunks out, and headed to see the Routeburn falls. The trail just went across the top of the falls but an Australian guy showed us the way to hike down to the falls.
Dinner was couscous and tuna fish, trail mix, and dried strawberries for dessert. The hut ranger gave a humorous talk about the hut and how to take care of it.
Random tech questions... Does the pic with Andy have HDR turned on? Looks unbelievable!
ReplyDeleteAlso that swing bridge looks super scary!
And when did you book my plane ticket for...?
ReplyDeleteNo HDR (I don't even think our camera supports it? no idea really)
ReplyDeleteThe reason the water looks the way it does is because it's a longer exposure, somewhere between 1/4 and 1/8 of a second. Luckily Katie has a steady hand, normally you would rest the camera on a rock or tripod of some sort.
That swinging bridge was super fun. Definitely got scary when it started rocking back and forth as you transferred your weight to each foot with each step. I think the swinging was amplified by the added weight of our packs too. Woop!