Today was our first day on the Routeburn Track which is considered one of NZ's greatest walks; apparently second only to the Milford Track but with the added bonus on no biting sandflies. It's 38km long through varying terrain and was going to take us 3 days to complete. We had booked with Ultimate Hikes who were providing our food and accommodation on the walk but we had to carry a pack with all our clothes and lunch in it.
On the walk with us were 2 English, 2 Americans, a family of 5 from Singapore and about 15 Japanese women who had very basic English but who really impressed us as the youngest in the group must have been late 60s yet they'd just completed the 54km (4 days) Milford Track and after one nights rest were tackling the Routeburn Track.
For our first day we had a really early 5.30am start so we were checked out of our hotel and ready to catch the bus by 7am. We then travelled by coach for about 4 hours (with a break half way for scones and coffee) to get to the start of the Track.
For the first part of the track we walked up for 1hr to the start of Key Summit. This was an optional 40min hike off the track climbing to 919m where we had views of 3 major river systems – the Hollyford, the Eglinton and the Greenstone. It was worth the climb for the views.
Shortly after the decent and a bit further walking we stopped for lunch at the Howden Hut where our Guides had boiled the water already for tea, coffee or miso soup.
We then walked for 4hrs, around 250m ascent over 10km, along the mountside, past Earland Falls (where one of the brave Americans took a dip) and through a grassy patch of ribbonwood known as The Orchard until we reached the Mackenzie Hut which was to be our accommodation for the night.
The hut was amazing considering we were in the middle of nowhere. There was hot water, a drying room so we could wash and dry our clothes and me and Andy got our own room. Mackenzie Lake was right by our hut and before dinner Andy went to take some photos but I ran away as there were lots of midges.
After a 3 course meal (you'd expect no less on the top of a mountain) we went to bed as the generators for the lights switched off at 10pm.
It was a surprise to find out that one of the Americans in the group worked for the same company as Andy – although he had only 4 weeks off work for his honeymoon.
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