Routeburn Track

Hello blog!

My sincerest apologies (again) for not updating you sooner! I have had many adventures since I last posted, so stay tuned for some more New Zealand stories!

Hiking the Routeburn Track was such a pleasant experience; it wasn’t stressful or unorganized, everyone was experienced hikers, we all had the correct equipment and expectations - it was wonderful!

Routeburn, often regarded as the ultimate alpine adventure, is a 33km hike over the main divide of Fiordland National Park. During Great Walk season (Oct 29-May 1) this track would take 3 days to complete. However, we decided to do it outside of Great Walk season and we discovered there some complications with trying to complete the whole thing. Since spring is only just arriving in the South Island, part of the track was still covered with snow and there were risks of avalanches as well. In order to complete the entire 3-day tramp, we would need crampons and ice hacks, but none of us had the experience or knowledge on how to acquire (or use) those tools. So, instead we decided to do only the first section of the track on Saturday and hike back the way we came on Sunday. Thus avoiding the scary snow and avalanches.

My flat (809F) collaborated with our neighbors (809B) to do the hike together, so we had 5 people all in all. Me, Grace and Sara and Chloe and Lena left Great King Street on Saturday morning in order to make the 5 hour drive over to the Routeburn roadend. We all piled ourselves into Lena and Chloe’s tiny car (Harriet) at 6:30am and began our journey. Harriet unfortunately does not have radio, CD, or Aux chords, so most of us slept during the first two hours of the drive and we all stopped for some mid-morning coffee in Queenstown. Once we were on the road again, Sara pulled out her speaker and played some tunes for us. My new favorite song, Thank God I’m a Country Boy (by John Denver), played as we drove through the New Zealand countryside and I felt totally content with my life. It’s been almost 4 months in this country and I’m not the LEAST bit tired of it. Sorry mom and dad, but I don’t think I’m ever coming home!

We arrived at the Routeburn roadend at 12:00pm in the afternoon and quickly got our tramping shoes and packs on. We started the hike and it was lovely! It was a pretty easy walking track and the five of us chatted and exchanged riddles.

Side note: I learned a new riddle from Chloe that goes like this,

“I’m a wee wee man,
In a red red coat,
Staff in my hand,
And a stone in my throat…what am I?”

It took a little time, but we eventually solved it! It’s quite clever.

Anyways, we had been walking for about 2 hours when we reached the Routeburn flats hut and we decided to stop there for a late lunch. While we set down our packs and started to get our food out, I noticed another group eating lunch at a picnic table nearby and recognized them! Turns out it was another group of international students from Otago that we knew. We went and said hello and the nine of us ate lunch together. The other group of girls had just come from the Routeburn falls hut, which is where our group was heading for the night and they told us how nice and beautiful it was. They also said they felt like they had had the entire place to themselves, which was super nice considering this track is one of the most popular backpacking tramps in New Zealand.

After lunch, we said goodbye to the other girls and continued on to the falls hut. This section of the hike was entirely uphill for the next hour and a half (barf). We silently suffered our way through this portion and hauled ourselves up the side of this giant fiord. The only good thing about hiking uphill in the fiordlands is the amazing views at the top, and let me tell you - it was worth it!! Once we arrived at the Routeburn falls hut, the view was absolutely spectacular. There was a giant waterfall to the left of the hut and an amazing, sprawling view of the Routeburn flats from the deck. Obviously we used the next 30 minutes to explore the place and take pictures of each other for Instagram posts. At this point, it was only 4 o’clock in the afternoon and we still had another 3 hours before we needed to be at the hut to make dinner. So, we decided to leave our packs at the hut and continue hiking until we reached the glacier lake. The five of us continued on past Routeburn falls and walked for another hour and a half to the beautiful lake where we had another photo-taking session and a midday snack of trail mix. At 5:30pm we hiked back to the falls hut and arrived at 7ish. There were more people who had showed up to the hut now, but it was not crowded by any means. The place can hold 48 people during high season and it costs $130 NZD to stay there, but since we were doing the track outside of Great Walk season, there was only 12 people staying the night and it cost us $15 NZD to stay. What a deal!

For dinner, we boiled water on our camping stove and I had ramen noodles and an apple. It was delicious. We watched the sunset together and then we went to bed super early (around 9:30pm). I read my book, A Man Called Ove, in my sleeping bag with my headlamp on and it was a great night. Great book by the way, I have since finished it and I absolutely loved it! 10/10 would recommend.

The next day we woke up around 7am to eat breakfast and hike out. We needed to be back to the roadend at noonish so we could get to Dunedin at 5pm and I could study for my exam (which was on Tuesday…yikes). We all ate oatmeal for breakfast, which I had to choke down in between bites of apple because it’s disgusting - I hate oatmeal. Next, we packed up our stuff and left the hut at around 8:30am.

The hike back was easy breezy lemon squeezy. We all just chatted and made our way downhill and back the way we came - it only took us 3 and a half hours to make it back to the roadend (record timing!). We stopped and ate a quick lunch of PB&Js and then stuffed ourselves back into Lena and Chloe’s petite little car, Harriet the Chariot. The 5 hour drive home felt relaxing and Sara’s playlist kept the good times rolling. The 2-day Routeburn hiking adventure was exactly what I needed: a low stress, active, beautiful, getaway with good friends and good views. Although we didn’t get to experience the full track because of the snow and avalanches, I really enjoyed the relaxed approach we took instead. The only unfortunate part of the whole weekend was coming home and having to go immediately to the library to study for my exam. The studying must have paid off though because I aced that exam and now I only have one to go!!

Wish me luck guys!

Thanks for reading :)