We headed off from the clubrooms at the usual time, making for Te Anau
via a food stop in Gore. We spent the night in relative comfort in
cabins there. (First in got the best beds, and the rest of us on the
floor - ask Terry, Bruce and co. about that).
The next day we headed off up the Kepler Track. It is a pleasant bush
walk on a well maintained which starts off fairly level by the lake and
gradually climbs on up. It was a winter trip in cold weather. We got
warm walking and climbing but had to take care not to get cold when we
stopped. It was also raining and while we were well wrapped up it was
not unpleasant, but finding a dry sheltered place to stop was more
difficult the higher we got as the bush thinned.
We saw several curious little robins which hopped around the path in
front of us, and some quiet keas who just sat on a branch and watched
us watching them, till they got sick of that and flew away. We came
across some massive icicles which were in the process of melting and
falling down. Some chunks were bigger than a fist and some that had
fallen earlier were easily the size of books. We moved through the area
quite quickly. Then there were some icy steps to climb. Once these
obstacles had been overcome it was a reasonably pleasant bush walk. At
the bushline we met the snow and the cold wind on our faces. Some kind
people had made tracks ahead of us which certainly made it easier but it
was still hard work through knee deep snow for the best part of an hour
to reach the hut.
At the hut the fire was burning and after hot drinks and food we felt
much better. That night was Hawaiian theme night and Wolfgang's quiz. I
think everyone made an effort to dress up, with Caroline winning the
best dress award. The quiz was challenging but a lot of fun.
That night was an early night for most of us. Over night the wind howled
and the snow fell. The next morning the wind died down. After a relaxed
start, with no one up before 8am, we headed back with Pete acting as
trackcutter. Even with the poles as a guide it was still a challenge to
find the track and we were often up to the tops of our legs in snow. I
fell a couple of time and was hauled up again by the person behind me.
It was too deep for my arms to be any help. Fortunately the snow was dry
so we didn't get cold.
It took about an hour to reach the bushline, Heading into the bush was
magical with a layer of snow on every branch and twig. Ours were the
first prints in the fresh snow. We made good progress and were soon at
the icy steps which were still icy, but much of the previous day's ice
was now slush. The icicles looked smaller as we went past. We ate our
lunch on the flat in the shelter by the lake, then headed back to the
vehicles.
Thanks Wolfgang for a great weekend.
Fiona for Nicole, Jan, Greg and our leader, Wolfgang
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