I’d been stressed at work and NZ Labour Day was coming up and the weather looked excellent out west, so I took an extra day and made it an extra long weekend to do the Kepler Track.

I packed up my bags and drove out to Te Anau after work on Thursday night. Friday morning turned out to be a beautiful start to a 4 day tramp. Day 1 had some steep climbs up to Luxmore Hut, but still made it there by about noon. The rest of the day was spent sunbathing on the deck and helipad and enjoying one of the first sunny, warm days of the season – very nice. A lot of people were on their phones since there is relatively good reception since horizontally, the hut is not very far from Te Anau. A short walk away from the hut, you can crawl into Luxmore Cave – be sure to take your headlamp!

The hut was buzzing over the weekend since it was the last before the great walk season started and the huts became more expensive, plus it was a holiday. I ate dinner as it was getting dark then went outside to watch the meteor shower that was happening that night – pretty special to see from a mountain top. After dealing with some cheeky kea birds, it was off to bed.

The next day was the walk along the ridge – the highlight of the Kepler experience. This is where some fantastic photos came out. Along the way I made friends with these four guys who had travelled down for a guys’ weekend from Wellington. It was good to share some laughs and get some photo opportunities.

The views were breathtaking and the keas soared in the wind along side the path – truly once in a lifetime. Definitely worth the trip – ridgeline tramps are always amazing.

After a long trip down and down and down, I arrived at Iris Burn Hut where there were sandflies galore. So far, the Kepler track hasn’t been as tough as I thought (leaving at 8AM, I arrived at every destination by about noon).

Day 3 continued the downhill through the woods and then came back around the lake until reaching Moturau Hut, where everyone watched a spectacular sunset on the beach and went for a cold swim.

Day 4 was an easy walk out. That’s one cool thing about the Kepler, its a circuit track so you can start and finish in the same place – which makes arranging transportation much easier.

Overall, it was a great trip. The views were most definitely the highlight – highly suggested 🙂