Final day of the Routeburn Track and then back to Queenstown and Ferg's - 10th Dec

The final day of the Routeburn Track is a leisurely 10km wander down from the falls then along the flats towards the trail end at Routeburn Road.

We awoke to a cloudy day, but given it was the last day of the walk and we were heading down the valley it did not seem to matter too much.

The first 30 minutes or so was down a steep, rocky path before emerging at the Routeburn flats.

We stopped for a brief stop at Forge Flats before proceeding to follow the gorge that the Routeburn river had carved out of the land. It started to rain and for the first time in 3 days we had to put on our raincoats – which at least made it worth while carrying them all the way from the UK.

We crossed the river a number of times before emerging at the end of the trail at the Routeburn Road.

At the road we boarded a coach for Queenstown but stopped first in Glenorchy at a pub for some food and a presentation of completion certificates. The pub appeared to be decked out more like I would expect a classic Aussie pub than a NZ one.

We arrived back at Queenstown around 4pm and headed straight to the same apartments we had stayed in a couple of days ago, freshened up and then headed back into town for something to eat.

At the B&B in Omarama, the owner/ chef had advised that whilst in Queenstown we should definitely experience a Fergburger and so we headed there as a reward for finishing the walk.

The lamb burger we had was very tasty as well as being big enough to be a meal in itself.

If you go to Queenstown you have to go for a Fergburger! They have resisted the temptation to open up in other towns/ countries despite pressure from the likes of Facebook forums and restaurant reviewers (one of which hypothesised that if a certain chain denoted by golden arches were in fact Fergburger restaurants then there would be no wars in the world!).

We then headed back to the apartment to do some laundry and pack for our flights to Australia the next day.