What else?

First day

I got dropped by a French couple living in the United States at the Routeburn Shelter, the start of the track, in the beginning of the afternoon. I ate there, buckled up and started walking.

I went through a thick, lush, green and beautiful beech forest – admiring the first ferns of my trip in New Zealand. Yay! Went across a few swing bridges over rumbling waters, chilled out on the bank of a shallow river, and, finally, left the trees and entered an incredible, magnificent valley…

Amazed, I discovered the Routeburn Flats campsite, where I pitched up my brand new tent for the first time (an Exped one, please), cooked my first tramping dinner, and gaped at the incredible view from under my shelter before the sunset…

Second day

I woke up a bit late (as expected from me I guess), took my breakfast, rolled my tent up and got back on the trail.

After an ascent that quickly warmed me up, I reached the Routeburn Falls, swallowed a quick lunch, and went on my way. I climbed, climbed, climbed, next to a river, in a high valley up in between the mountains, above the Lake Harris, and, at last, it ended up ascending at the Harris Saddle emergency shelter.

It simply became incredible after that. The slow descent, on the side of the mountains, gaping at the snowy peaks of an alpine background… Alone up in the mountains – alone with the birds, the streams, and the wind…

After a few hours of this paradise, I started descending to the Lake Mackenzie, next to where I pitched my tent up a few moments only before the sunset. The sky was covering up with gray clouds and the wind was gaining in strength – the weather was not going to be very nice that night.

…and it was not. The heavy rain, almost a storm, kept pounding my tent for the whole night. I could only hope the latter would pass its first test.

Third day

I woke up with water in my tent, which had fortunately not touched any of my equipment. I packed everything up and went on for my last day on the Routeburn, under a really light rain that rapidly left for sun.

I quickly met Gary, an Australian tramper from Tamworth – where I had been only a few weeks earlier. Being both lone trekkers, we decided to go along and shared a few hours together, discussing about traveling, tramping, nature, New Zealand, and almost everything on the way through the forest.

We reached the Lake Howden Hut and ate together (I will always remember this lunch as the moment where he made me discover the goodness of the nuts/dry raisins mix…) before parting, Gary wanting to spend a bit more time there to take some additional photos and make a quick trip to the nearby Key Summit.

I hence went on to The Divide, the end of the track, and found back civilization in the form of a noisy highway and foul-smelling cars passing on it…

I said goodbye to my beloved wilderness, walked a few dozens of meters on the highway, and thumbed a ride to Milford Sound.