View over Lake Te Anau of the township and surrounding mountains
After a 45 minute walk from Te Anau im ready to start on the Kepler track
The 4 day mission
The track map which is meant to be half covered by snow
Straight into red and silver beech forest with the forest floor carpeted in mosses and liverworts.
Brod bay is a wicked beach until the sand flies swarm and eat you to death.
After a 3hr walk through steep beech forest I reached the tree line which was covered in snow.
An incredible view in the alpine tussock looking over lake Te Anau
Lake Te Anau township
Luxmore Hut was a very large well kitted out hut with its own helipad
The limestone caves near luxmore hut were almost snowed in but we found a small hole in the snow to explore the caves
Stalitites lines the ceiling
Another great view
DAY 2 - Luxmore Hut to Iris Burn Hut
I needed my crampons and ice axe straight away as I climbed the snow slopes up the Mt Luxmore the highest point on the track.
Nice hard snow first thing in the morning
Lake Te Anau from Mt Luxmore summit 1490m
There were some really scary crossings over some of the really steep slopes
The snow line was really evident along the surrounding fiordland mountains
The hardest and most cruelling part of the climb was here before the second shelter.
Snow was still hard up against the hanging valley 1390m
Me and my snowman
It was a steep decent back into the silver and mountain beech forest
Mountain beech
Silver beech
I chilled out and swam in one of the refreshing glacier streams.
Finally made it to Iris burn hut, another really nice hut right alongside the river
DAY 3 - Iris Burn Hut to Moturau Hut (then Shallow Bay Hut)
I had a quick morning walk to the waterfall near the hut where heaps of chaffiches and riflemen were catching their breakfast
This is the big slip which formed in 1984 where part of the mountain fell during heavy rain
A cool waterfall that turns to spray half way down the mountain.
Cooking up some porridge for lunch by the river
Half way point along the river
Crown ferns dominated the forest floor the closer to the lake I walked. Huge podocarps started making appearances between the beech trees.
The river entering lake Manapouri
Looking onto the islands of lake Manapouri
I decided to stay at shallow bay hut instead of the large Moturau Hut to enjoy a nice big fire.
DAY 4 - Shallow Bay Hut to Te Anau
I woke up to a mirror image view of the mountains and fog over the lake
After passing through wetland and beech/podocarp forest I walked up the river joining lake Te Anau and Lake Manapouri.
15 October 2010
I had only been in Te Anau a day but the weather was meant to be still and fine so made the most of it and planned and set out on the Kepler Track.
It was a wicked 4 days which something new each day from red beech forest, to alpine tussocks, then snow and ice, to silver and mountain beech followed by open grasslands, lakes, streams rivers and podocarp forest. The weather was perfect and I had the most amazing views of fiordland. I can definitely see why this is one of New Zealands great walks and cant wait to do some of the other ones.
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