Friday 4th March: Cloudy with some sunshine, cool 9°C to 17°C
Routeburn Falls Hut to Queenstown: Walk 8k, 9.40am to 1.30pm: Shuttle Bus Dep 2pm arr Queenstown 4pm
Accommodation: Lakefront YHA Queenstown
FAQ's of the Routeburn Huts
Looking down to Routeburn Flats
Coffee at the Routeburn Flats Hut
Beautiful Routeburn
Wobbly on the swing bridge
Crystal clear Routeburn
Raymond and Stephanie
Rafting Lessons
Ready set push
Go!
Routeburn Track
400 yr old tree trunk
Graham's shortcut doesn't work
Last into the shelter
Lunch on the platform
Milton passes on his pole
6 Macpacs
Macpac
End of the Routeburn Track
Raymond and Stephanie
Bonnie Jean Restaurant
Glenorchy Boat Shed
Cloudy day
Highlight of today was walking our final day's hike down the beautiful Route Burn stream and finishing both the Kepler and Routeburn Tracks with all 6 of us healthy and no incidents.
It's a lazy start from Mackenzie Hut with no need to rush. We have a leisurely breakfast of cup of tea and porridge at 8am but after sweeping the hut floor and chatting to Ranger John, it's 9.40am when we head off. It's not raining but a rather coolish 9°C when we walk briskly down hill through the forest and in just over an hour we're at the Routeburn Falls Hut having another cup of tea/coffee. There's sandflies outside so we sit inside chatting to the ranger who comes from the North West of Tasmania and she and Donna are keen to talk politics – about Senator Jacquii Lambie and co - I suppose someone needs to take an interest in politics.
At 11.30am we're off again down the track following the beautiful Route Burn stream. There's a group of people learning the ropes of river rafting, jumping into the icy water and scrambling over the rocks as part of the training. Onwards down the track and after one hour, we can see the carpark at the Routeburn Shelter. Graham decides to take a shortcut across the flats but can't cross the raging torrent so he needs to come back up the hill and walk the extra 30minutes round the hill to the bridge across to the carpark - not happy Graham!
Lunch on the platform while waiting for the bus. Then at 2pm, the shuttle with trailer arrives and we load our packs into the trailer which leaves at 2.10pm, minus a one already booked hiker who doesn’t turn up. It's 30 minutes into Glenorchy where the bus stops for 20 minutes waiting for other hikers from other walks. Jenny, Donna and Milton head off for a close cafe, Ian and I walk a bit further to the Bonnie Jean Café for a photo - because its name is Bonnie Jean, then to the Glenorchy boat shed and Graham strolls around looking at petrol prices.
The bus leaves at 3pm for a pretty trip down the lake to Queenstown and drops us outside the YHA Lakefront at 4pm. We've soon checked in and retrieved our cycling bags stored in the tin shed then up to our rooms to re-arranging packs for the 8am bus trip to Tekapo tomorrow when our cycling adventure from Alps to Ocean begins.
Time for a shower, some blogging, and a cup of tea before we all meet downstairs to walk to the Halo Cafe for dinner with the other 7 cyclists from Donna and Milton's group who are staying elsewhere. It's an almost warm evening as we stroll along the lake to the town centre of Queenstown, firstly to find an ATM to get cash to pay our cycle hire man, then to do some shopping for breakfast/lunch tomorrow, and then to find the Halo Café to meet up with the group.
We find the Halo Cafe but the drinks are pretty ordinary, as judged by the bitter beer and tasteless wine, but the food is magnificent – probably tasted better after a few nights of hut food. Ian had Blue Cod and I had the nicest Rib Eye steak with chunky fried potatoes and salad. The group is a nice group, all 60+ and we're looking forward to the bike ride, though I could easily start another trek tomorrow - planning for Italy and France in June will be the next project.
It's still a mild evening as we walk back to the YHA and go to bed about 10.30pm..