November 26, 2022

November 26, 2022

We awoke to some sunshine and no rain. That is the trigger for us to do a hike. So we checked out of our Te Anau, New Zealand motel and drove down the Milford Highway for an hour. Unfortunately as we wound through the mountains, the clouds got lower and lower. Foiled again by the Southern Alps! We parked at the Divide Shelter Trailhead of the Routeburn Track, our fourth Great Walk excerpt. We hiked straight uphill for an hour to Key Summit. It is in the clouds with no view to be had. We had a snack at the top as a reward for making the climb. For a few brief seconds the clouds parted and we got a glimpse of the snow-capped mountains surrounding us.

We hiked the thirty-minute Alpine Nature Walk past some small mountain ponds (tarns) exploring the strange vegetation of this alpine landscape. It is very unusual and fascinating, plus we have the whole area to ourselves. On the hike back down we pass dozens of people coming up. Many of them are in t-shirts and shorts, while we are bundled up with hat and gloves! Total time on the trail was three hours.

We have a leisurely return drive. We only make a short stop at Mirror Lake for photos. Because we are here in the Spring, lots of flowers are blooming. The most abundant flower is from the Kowhai Tree. Its yellow flower is ubiquitous, lining half of the roadway. It is the unofficial national flower of New Zealand. Back in Te Anau we stop at the Fiordland Visitor Center to peruse the exhibits and watch the park film. Fiordlands is the largest park in New Zealand. It is also a World Heritage Site. Afterwards we stop at a pub for a hamburger lunch.

From Te Anau, we make the two-hour drive to Queenstown. It is only fifty miles as the crow flies but there are large mountains in the way. Queenstown sits on a bend in the middle of the fifty-mile long finger lake Wakatipu. It would be brilliant blue if it still had a glacier feeding it. There are loads of Yellow Lupines as we approach.

We check into our Queenstown hotel. We are tired and it is spitting rain so we have a pizza dinner at the penthouse bar. Queenstown is surrounded by mountains.