Routeburn Day 1

2-3-2014

      I'm sitting here in the Routeburn Falls Hut. It's only 2:00 in the afternoon and we've already arrived at the hut we're staying at tonight. It's cold and pouring down rain outside. We made it here just before the rain got really heavy, and it's supposed to only get worse. It's supposed to get cold enough to turn to snow all the way down to 700 meters. We're at 1000m here, where the snow level was two days ago (keep in mind it's late summer here, and 1000m is only about 3000ft).

      We just have good timing. We made it here before the weather got too bad. We're a little wet but not soaked, as the newcomers are now. Our luck now is due to our luck this morning, since we wouldn't be here this early otherwise. We parked at the Greenstone Trailhead, 28km away from the Routeburn Trailhead, because that's where we're ending. In case you don't hike very often let me put this into perspective: most people hike 8-10 miles, or 10-12 kilometers, in a day and then they stop and make camp. As a ranger I typically hike 16-20 miles in a day. My longest day was 28, for a Search And Rescue. So that translates to a long day being (16-20mi) around 25km. To do 28km would either be a very long day, or two days, and that isn't including the 8.8km to the hut we're in now. My whole points that we needed a ride, and it seems everyone does this loop the other way around so the shuttles' times were off. That left us with only one option left: to hitch-hike. Very common in this country, but we were fairly remote. I mean, we drove through rivers to get to this parking lot. I figured our best bet would be to get a ride from someone coming off the trail, and I wasn't at all sure that anyone would even come off the trail today. I really, really didn't think it likely that anyone would come off the trail in the morning; it'd likely be afternoon before we could hitch a ride. We knew the weather was only supposed to get worse as the day went on, so we got up and ate breakfast at 8:00 anyway, hoping for a break. 

     We had just zipped our packs up and locked the van when a van with a trailer pulled in. A group of people got out, ready to hike the Greenstone Track, who were very friendly and talkative. We talked to the driver and found she transported people to trailheads for a living, and she was willing to give us a ride to the Routeburn right then, and her price was half of anyone else. We accepted right away! 

     For anyone who may be traveling to the Queenstown area in New Zealand (which I highly recommend) in the future, if you find you need a ride somewhere within a few hours of the area, I suggest Buckley Transport. The lady who does it is excellent, very friendly, a very good driver, and she even gave us some tasty ginger fudge candy thing when she dropped us off. She said it was for energy on the trail. I think she was just ridiculously nice.

    Now I'm sitting in the hut, after few hours later. Dinner has been made and eaten. Tea has been made, twice. The hut warden gave his speech to all of us (all 48), which was both informative and humorous.  He warned us about the possums and the kea birds, and about how mischievous they get. When it's quiet they're up to something, and they get quiet at night. So, keep the doors closed and keep our stuff indoors. Kea birds in particular are very curious about anything new, and they will pick things apart. 

     The warden also talked about cleaning up after ourselves and other hut etiquette, as expected. Most  impressively, he left everyone in a good mood. Now everyone is playing cards and talking in small groups. One person is playing guitar, another ukulele, and someone else is singing. Some people are reading, others (like me) are writing. Here and there we're all looking at this giant poster on the wall behind me that says, "Welcome to Routeburn Falls, Merry Christmas!" in 25 different languages.  We're all collaborating, trying to guess at least 20 because if we do, the warden has promised a large Cadbury chocolate bar. I brought my own for this trip (yes, I have an unhealthily large sweet tooth) so I'm just in it for fun. I recognize Mandarin Chinese, Arabic, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Hawaiian Polynesian, Italian, Thai, Russian, Hindu, Maori, and I think that's it. Oddly enough, English is missing. 

     It's a lot of fun. Everyone seems to feel more comfortable and settled now, including me. I'm also starting to feel very tired, so I'm signing off now and going to bed. 

Goodnight

-Carolyn