Greenstone and Caples Tracks

By Jen.

NZ is all about its longer, overnight hikes. So, we decided to take the plunge and try one. Greenstone and Caples tracks seemed like a good start, as it was a loop and only 4 days and 3 nights. Staying along the river valleys, except for one saddle crossing, it was a good choice for our first tramp with packs.

We spent the night before planning and packing our food. This was 5 days (one spare) of meals and snacks for us.

Starting off.

We decided to follow the suggestions in the Lonely Planet book, Hiking and Tramping in New Zealand, which had us going up the Caples first then down the Greenstone. Turns out this was a bad idea from the start. First of all, the first night had you staying at Upper Caples Hut, which is no longer a public DOC hut, but we did not discover this until we were already on our way. As we passed the intersection with the Greenstone track, some other hikers inquired about where we were staying tonight. Upon some discussion, we learned that wasn’t really an option, which meant that we would be staying at Mid Caples Hut instead. This wasn’t too big of a deal, except that it made our 2nd day a really long day (22km) coupled with the most elevation gain. On the downhill that day, we both got blisters, which made our last two days tougher than the should have been. Plus, the Caples Track is more scenic than the Greenstone Track, so I recommend doing the Greenstone then the Caples. Definitely a learning experience, reminding us that we should always preview the route and huts online before embarking on our journey. Still, despite all that, it was still a good track for us to start off on and we enjoyed it. The weather was nearly perfect, as well.

Right before the hut was a surprising little gorge.

A fat trout was happily swimming in it where no fisher could reach it.

Sunset.

Sunrise.

We started off early the next morning and were surrounded by lots of birds. Robins, riflemen, tomtits frequented the path.

A rifleman.

These two tomtits were in a fight to the death and didn’t even care that we had come up on them. The one the ground was in a state of shock and left for dead. I will never look at these small guys the same again.

We reached the saddle.

And caught our first glimpse of Lake McKellar.

We were walking through some red beeches.

Cleaning/preening time, apparently.

The next day, as we walked through Greenstone station fields, a cow decided we were a threat. For a while, it just watched us, then as we were exiting the fields, it decided to chase after us. I waited to get a picture until after I had gotten safely behind the trees where it wouldn’t follow us.

Walking through recent rock slides.

The end.

Glacier Lakes, Rainforests, and Birds

By Jen.

Next along the road happened to be Manapouri and Te Anau. We had heard the Circle Track at Manapouri was a classic walk for the area, so we thought we would give it a go. Upon arriving, we discovered that you actually had to cross the river via boat to do the walk. A water taxi costs $20 per person, so we figured it would be just as easy to inflate the kayak and cross over ourselves. So after some short work and hauling the kayak down to the water (and a quick petting of a wandering neighborhood cat), we had crossed the river, stowed the kayak, and were walking along through the rainforest.

The viewpoint looks out at Lake Manapouri.

We took lunch at the viewpoint and had a little visitor. Another friendly South Island Bush Robin came looking for scraps and quite liked Jonathan. Apparently he looked like he dropped more crumbs than I. Naturally, I was quite jealous.

From there, we decided to visit another LOTR site, aka the Anduin River, which is featured in the opening scene of the Fellowship of the Ring.



The next day, the Te Anau Bird Sanctuary was the first on the list. This was quite fun. The birds here are ones that would not survive in the wild. We went early and were able to visit the birds before the crowds arrived for the feedings. Then we stayed for the feedings, even getting to go into an enclosure with some birds and feed the ducks.

These are a native forest parrot, called kākā.

These playful creatures are parakeets that are native to some subantarctic islands.

This fatty got into the captive birds’ cage to steal the food. I think it is now too fat to get out.

Feeding a female Paradise Shelduck.

And the ducklings!

The stars of the show are the rare flightless takahē, which were once considered extinct.

The ones with the red-orange beaks are the parents.

This is a 3-month-old (to the day) juvenile.

This is their egg. They grow pretty quickly.

From here, we had planned on driving up to Milford Sound, but then read that January and February was the busiest time, so we decided to forgo until next month. Instead, we decided to swing over to the Mavora Lakes, where we could hopefully find less crowds. To finish off the day, we put in the kayak and paddled around the smaller lake.


This is also another LOTR site, where they finish their journey down the river in the Fellowship.







The next morning, I read that some “good alpine views” could be had by walking or driving up a 4WD road for a bit. So, we started off in the van down it, then decided perhaps it might be a bit troublesome and pulled off. Then walked the rest of the way. However, the rain and clouds only increased as we went along, so the views were unattainable. We decided it was time for an overnight hike, though. So swung around Lake Wakatipu, stocked up on missing supplies in Queenstown, and camped at the north end of the lake to finish preparing for our walk the next day.

The 4WD road.

Where the views were supposed to be.

Lake Wakatipu at sunset.