Speccy photos from the Routeburn

The photos say it all really. Even with the rain, it was beautiful and all our little group enjoyed it.

DAY 1

DAY 2 

A very welcome sight - Lake Mackenzie down in the valley with our hut at the far end - still about an hours walk away.

Yes - this is the track on the left, up and around by the orange marker.

Lunch time shelter hut at Harris Saddle.

The view of Lake Mackenzie from the front of the hut. Some of the younger (less wise) walkers went swimming in the lake. We could hear them screaming in the cold water from the track when we were way up on the side of the mountain slopes.

 

DAY 3

Sheryl in front of Split Rock. We squeezed our way through the narrow gap - about 60cm wide mostly.

 

"The Orchard" - native Ripponwood trees which have planted themselves so evenly space they look like a human-planted orchard. These are one of the few native deciduous trees in NZ.

 

Debbie stopping to the smell the flowers. I forget what this is called but it does have a beautiful fragrance as well as long spikes in the flowers so you have be careful if you want to keep your eyesight intact!

Erland Falls - At 174metres tall is NZ's tallest water fall. The track goes right across the bottom of it. It was really pumping and pounding with a lot of water due to 117mm of rain the night before and who knows how much over the preceding days. The force of the water creates a very strong wind and blows spray with little ice particles horizontally at the base. We all got wet, although our wet weather clothes gave some protection. There was a flood route lower down but we all walked over the bridge and clambered around the rocks at the base of the falls. It was rather exhilarating!

 

DAY 4

 

There are many of these animal traps along the Routeburn. They are part of the stoat and rat trapping program which is undertaken to try and prevent these introduced pests from causing the extinction of NZ's native birds. Prior to their introduction there were no predators in NZ. Apart from a very rare tiny bat, NZ has no native mammals as well as no snakes. The birds are now beginning to increase in numbers.

 

The view - solid white cloud. I do believe that somewhere out there, there are massive mountains...

 But the mossy forests were beautiful.