New Zealand gifts hikers with Great Walks, single or multi-day hikes that go through its spectacular scenery. There are huts (bunk houses) and camping enroute for those who do a several day track. Reading up on tracks we felt that there’s a tie for the best track: The Routeburn or Milford Sound. We chose the Routeburn because doing the whole track’s 20 miles was do-able in 3 days for us. Milford is a 33.2 mile tramp and would have taken 4 days at least, which is a few too many showerless days for us.   

The gear we each carried included all food, a cook pot, tableware, clothing and a sleeping bag. Because they say in New Zealand “be prepared for all 4 seasons in the same day” choosing what to bring was a challenge. Even though the weather forecast was sunny for all 3 days, it was a slim guarantee, so we stuffed our sacks. Tracks don’t provide trash bins, so whatever we brought in had to come out with us. Art’s bag weighed in at 33 pounds and mine at 24.
We boarded an 8 am, 1-1/2 hour bus out of Queenstown to the Routeburn car park. (For the return 3 days later, we were picked up at The Divide – the separation between Mt. Aspiring National Park and Fiordland National Park. The return ride was 4 hours.)
At 10:11 am we took our first step! And it was ALL UP HILL from there. The forests we walked through were amazingly green and heavily moss covered. (Totally confirms why The Lord of the Rings was filmed in New Zealand.)  

The last 2 hours ramped up in steepness, and we arrived at our overnight spot, the Routeburn Falls hut at 4:23 pm. After picking our bunks and tossing in our bags, we headed out to explore our new surroundings and the impressive triple falls. 

      
We scarfed our first night’s dinner of sweet and sour chicken with fresh red peppers over rice, cleaned up and headed for our bunks, most everyone was asleep by 9:30 💤💤💤.
Now sleeping in a bunkhouse with 22 other unwashed trampers is an experience in itself, a chorus of snores, snorts and errrr “other noises” prompts quick insertion of industrial-grade ear plugs. 
The next morning, we were up, semi-washed with cold water, breakfasted with nutty muesli and UHT milk and out by 9:10 am. Little did we know what the day held in store for us. We started with an even steeper, 2 hour, uphill, rocky climb above the tree line to the Harris Saddle which is theoretically the divide between when you ascend the mountain range and when you descend. Along the way the views were overwhelmingly and emotionally breathtaking! My thought in this pristine, raw and beautiful nature was, If I never hike another mountain it is okay because I am complete. I tear up again as I write this. 
Reaching the saddle was the first high for the day but not nearly how good we felt when we reached the Lake MacKensie hut, our second night’s accommodation 9 hours after we started. Fellow hikers know how much harder downhills are due to the “help” of gravity! So even though we were descending, well above the tree line, we continued to negotiate rocks, bigger rocks and small boulders while stopping to take in the beauty of what was all around us.

   
We arrived at 6 pm (9hrs of solid hiking), and we both agreed it was the most strenuous hike we had ever accomplished! We had our choice of top bunks so we grabbed two and headed outside to relax shoe-less on the front lawn overlooking the lake. Thank goodness no bugs!  
Dinner was a spicy marsala paneer over rice. Another hungry hiker helped us finish our meal or we would have had to carry out even more garbage. 
This bunkhouse was a bit noisier due to a younger crowd but all were miraculously silent by 9:30/10. Thank goodness for those good ear plugs 🙂
Day 3 started with mixed feelings. You can’t help thinking about warm water from a sink, a shower, your pillow, cleaner clothes, lights, walking barefoot on carpeted floors, privacy and at the same time you’re not wanting to re-enter life as you know it. Our final leg started at 8am, back in the forest with trees filled with the sound of birds again, and of course more rocky paths, but mostly downhill. The glorious 6 -1/2 hours went by way too quickly! Our 4 hour bus ride back to Queenstown found us in and out of sleep.
After showers in our hotel, and with the laundry going, we unanimously voted on a dinner delivery rather than a .7 mile walk to the Queenstown restaurants. We had a celebratory bottle of a New Zealand red wine with an amazingly delicious Italian meal. Dessert was a couple of Motrin. 
Our take away from this life-changing, tramping experience is the reminder that: Nature is awe-inspiring, beautiful, surprising, gorgeous, stunning, fabulous, and breath-taking. 

Bradona. A roadside stop near Cardronia on the Cardrona Valley Road which links the towns of Queenstown and Wanaka, New Zealand. It’s at the entrance to the Cardrona Distillery. Obviously a lot of free spirits have passed by. Cindy declined to contribute as she only had two favorite foundations packed for our trip. Cash donations for breast cancer are also accepted.   

Here’s a 30 second walk by along the Bradona bra fence. 

  
The McDonalds in Lake Taupo takes the kid’s playground to a new high   

The Furgburger in Queenstown, New Zealand is legendary. People line up outside their doorway on Shotover St. to order and devour the huge burger dressed with sauce, onions, lettuce and tomato. 

…was what the i-Site guy said to the white water rafting outfitter on the phone. 

 
We were driving through Murchison, New Zealand on the south island and were wondering what there was to do there so we pulled into the i-Site center to ask the staff what cool things are around. 
Turns out we were in an area where several rivers come together and feed into the Buller River. All that water flow makes it a fast moving river. Add in some boulders scattered in the flow and you’ve got the perfect river for rafting. 

He suggested either a jet boat on the river or a white water rafting trip down he river. Apparently Cindy’d never been on a rafting trip before and she had some concerns, like flipping and getting dunked. We chatted with the i-Site guy about what the rafting trip was like. His opinion was if we wanted to really experience the river, the raft gives you two active hours which beats the jet boat where you just sit and zip for one hour. 

We decided to do rafting. Mr. i-Site booked it with Ultimate Descents New Zealand.

The rafting office was just across the street, we went over, met the third victim Jane, got outfitted with wetsuits, rash guards and crash helmets and set off in a rickety van to the launch.

Matt was our guide and captain, Dan followed downstream and shot photos (included free with our 1/2 day trip!) as we risked life and limb.   

Matt gave us several commands to remember as we floated, “down” meant crouch down on the floor as we hurtled through rapids, “paddle” of course meant paddle for your life against the torrent of water and “paddles up” meant crouch with the paddle handle up so as to not knock out your mate’s teeth or toss them overboard. 
We took off down river and straight-away came to nicely sized rapids complete with boulders staring us in the face. Matt barked commands, we paddled, crouched and whooped as the water bounced us through.

A few more easier rapids, then came a bit of a calm area and we were able to hop out of the raft and float in the calm cool water. 
One rapid which was basically a 4 to 5 foot waterfall was deemed too large for us to pass through. so we hopped out and were given a choice to walk downstream a bit, stand on a rock about 8 feet above the river and jump in, or walk downstream to the waters edge and rejoin the safe raft. Super-Keen jumped, Keen hopped in the raft.