Hiking New Zealand's Gorgeous Routeburn Track

Or, as the Kiwis say, tramping. 

In 2018, Lonely Planet nominated the Routeburn Track one of the world’s most epic hikes. I heartily agree. The year before, in the fall of 2017, my husband and I completed the track and I want to do it again. It's one of New Zealand's Great Walks and straddles the national parks of Aspiring and Fiordland with some 39 kilometers of stunning mountain landscape. There is neither the breath-squelching elevations of the Andes nor the humid heat of Indonesia’s mountains to contend with, and most definitely not the hordes that the Camino de Santiago struggles with. It is unadulterated nature, raw and wild. I have been to a lot of places around the world but the Routeburn is one of the most beautiful trails I’ve ever seen. And it’s really not all that difficult if you're in reasonably good shape.

So, down to the nitty-gritty. Several months before starting I made reservations on the Department of Conservation (DOC) website. There are 4 self-catering huts along the way - Routeburn Flats, Routeburn Falls, Lake McKensie and Lake Howden - with room to camp if you decide to bring a tent instead and save some money. If you do camp you’re allowed to use the spacious kitchen facilities at the huts. The kitchens have fuel, stoves and water available at no extra charge, but you will need to bring all your cooking gear, including a lighter, and food. We paid about $50 per night per person at each hut and stayed at all four. It can be done in two overnights but if you are not in a hurry, it is most definitely worth taking the extra days. I recommend making the reservations as soon as you know when you can go since the huts only have room for about 40-60 people a night. They are very basic bunks with mattresses included. You will need to bring a sleeping bag and pillow – and probably some ear plugs or headphones. A lot of snoring going on with that many folks in one room.

Last time being clean for 5 days!

Once you get to Queenstown you'll have to visit the DOC's office with your reservation papers to get the official tickets. We got four so we could give one to the ranger at each hut. The track starts outside of Queenstown at Routeburn Shelter where an easy shuttle ride can deposit you at the trail head. We had rented a car since we were driving all around the South Island and instead made arrangements with a car relocation company (Tracknet.net) to pick it up at the Shelter and drop it off at the Divide where the track ends. It was an option that saved us from having to take the shuttle bus all the way from Te Anau at the Divide and back to Routeburn Shelter. It was a bit more expensive than the shuttle but not by much and it saved valuable vacation time that would have otherwise been spent backtracking.

Close encounter with a tomtit

Routeburn Flats hut

Giant southern beech in forest near the Flats, also known as Fangorn

The walk from the Shelter to the first hut, Routeburn Flats, is about 6.5 km and takes only a couple of hours. It is ripe with vistas of New Zealand’s iconic beech forests and cascading streams, all of which are bridged. Look out for birds, if you love wildlife, as there are lots of tomtits, tui and fantails. Once we reached the hut, situated in the outskirts of the flats and overlooking the snowy peak of Mount Somnus, we spotted some paradise ducks. As dusk approached a gang of keas descended to pick apart any hiking shoes left outside the hut – nature’s very own entertainment. These mountain parrots, indigenous to New Zealand and found nowhere else, are some of the smartest birds in the world and are not deterred by such paltry things like rubber seals. They spent most of our dinnertime noisily picking at the ones fitted around the hut’s skylight. Apparently, they had had to be replaced several times. It was great to sit and watch them with a really nice couple from Auckland that we had met along the trail.

The naughty nighttime keas

Day two‘s walk is only about 1.5 hours, ascending about 275 meters to Routeburn Falls. The trees are still present but grow gnarly and significantly lower. Right behind the hut are the Falls which, since it had recently rained, were pure torrents. A bit further up is a more luxurious hut owned by a company that caters to your every whim and priced accordingly. The Routeburn Falls hut overlooks the whole valley. 

The next morning it rained torrents and resulted in a crazy amount of impromptu waterfalls cascading down all the valley walls as we sat outside on the veranda, wondering if we would be hiking in the rain and listening for each booming crack of thunder that made the mountains tremble. 

 

Ranger gives a lecture in Routeburn Falls hut while we waited for the rain to subside

The wind swept the rain up the mountainside!

The resident ranger, infallibly confident, assured us it was quite normal and would stop by the time we had to leave and make room for the next set of incoming hikers. He was right. Like clockwork, at precisely 9:15 am, it stopped, the sun burst through the thick clouds and the world seemed greener than ever. The falls had doubled in size in a matter of hours. So on we went, past the cascades and into the alpine tussock grasslands beyond. Trees were replaced with phormiums and an abundance of high-altitude wildflowers as the land rose another 300 meters and the track meandered over boggy meadow to the highest point on the track.

After the rain and waiting to head out

Routeburn Falls - after a night of rain

Track leading away from the Falls hut

Harris Saddle sits at a comfortable 1225 meters above beautiful Harris Lake and is reached after overnighting at the Routeburn Falls hut. Saddle has an emergency shelter so you are not allowed to overnight and there are no bunks, but it is a great place to take a break and enjoy a well-deserved lunch. It does have a long-drop toilet. It also overlooks the other side of the track and the Serpentine Range.

Approaching Harris Saddle shelter

At the shelter - and a mighty fine view of the Serpentines

After Harris, the track continues along the Hollyford face around to Ocean Peak corner and from there on the trail gets a little rougher, with some gentle scrambling required as it descends steeply in zigzags into the valley towards Lake Mackenzie. 

 

At the lake is the third hut, not surprisingly named Lake Mackenzie Hut. Take a load of  - when we got there, the ranger gave an excellent lecture on the fragility of the valley’s ecosystem and the destructive menace, the stoat (imported from England) that has had a devastating effect on New Zealand’s many ground-nesting birds. He told us to pay close attention to the difference between the amount of birds on the stretch of track we had already covered and what we would be seeing on the stretch tomorrow. He was not wrong – the density of wildlife was seriously increased and really highlighted the conservation efforts in the valley. It was as though someone had suddenly turned up the volume! We even saw some parrots and keas.

The tiny building to the far right - Mackenzie Hut

Mackenzie hut

The next day we again started off soon after breakfast, our packs a bit lighter as we only had one more night ahead. I have to admit I wished the track was a lot longer at this point. We had so much fun with the people we kept bunking with at the huts and doing the occasional stretch of walking with. During this stretch we climbed a bit, then entered a grassy area abundant with ribbonwood trees and past Earland Falls. The falls were spectacular, some 174 meters tall. The trail is pretty close to the water and getting sprayed was not optional. Did I mention that apart from that one night of rain, the weather was perfect?

Earland Falls

The tracks gradually descended to the fourth hut, which sits on the shores of Lake Howden. As the afternoon wore on, people were jumping in the lake though I chose to meander around shooting birds. The vegetation had changed from high alpine to more grass and low shrub terrain, equally beautiful. On the last night we heard another short talk by the on-site ranger on the biodiversity of the Southern Alps as clothes hung drying around the fireplace and we sat sipping the last of our hot chocolate and whiskey. There was a really nice sense of camaraderie, everyone enjoying the trip and each other’s company. We met a frisky pair of Aussie ladies in their early 70s who told us they had walked the Australian Outback last year which had taken something like 4 weeks and several air drops of food and beer. Just goes to show age is no hindrance – I want to be just like them when I grow up!

Lake Howden Hut

Sunset at Lake Howden

The next morning, after a good night’s sleep with ear plugs, we had our last breakfast and did the usual exchange of emails with our new friends from Auckland with promises that if we ever found ourselves on the North Island, we’d be stopping by for sure. I hope we do. The hike out to the Divide highway was about 12 km and was pretty forested most of the way as we descended a bit out of the valleys. As we got closer to the trailhead, we started encountering day trippers and boy, did they smell good! Perfume, deodorant… things we had been, eh, lacking in for the past four days, not to mention most of them were freshly showered…

At last the trail spilled into a small graveled parking lot where, lo and behold, the nice folks at Tracknet had deposited our car. It was like magic! I grabbed the long-awaited bottle of local red out of the trunk and we toasted our success, cups unnecessary! Moments later our Auckland friends emerged from the woods and we hugged and took pics. They were headed back home whereas our adventure would continue south to Te Anau and, hopefully, a really, really long shower.

Mission accomplished!

The Routeburn was a mindblowingly beautiful experience and I would go back and do it all over again, any day. Really. Any day. Because the problem with New Zealand is that the moment you leave, you probably can’t wait to get back.  It’s just that nice.

Stinky but happy - and ready to go again