Lord of the Rings

We stopped first at a camping area with gorgeous views of Mt. Cook, New Zealand's highest peak. Though the drive to this area was less than promising (very high winds and rain), we occasionally had clear skies and even rainbows above the impossibly blue, glacier-fed lakes of Tekapo and Pukaki.




View of Mt. Cook from our tent-site

The next day was warm and clear - perfect conditions for our hike into the Hooker Valley to a glacial lake at the base of Mt. Cook.

The drive into the National Park to get to the hike:


The hike:


From Mt. Cook, we blew through the disgustingly over commercialized Queenstown - home of the thrill-seeking adventures of the likes of gondola bungee jumping and river surfing - to the refreshingly small and under-developed town of Glenorchy, home base for hikes on the Routeburn and Rees-Dart Tracks and home to dozens of black swans.



The Routeburn is a world-famous three-day hike through some of the areas used in the filming of the Lord of the Rings. The 39 kilometer hike is connected to other tracks (Kiwi word for trail) which enable you to make a loop back to your starting point. We made reservations (essential) for the Routeburn while on the ice and secured bunks for ourselves in the three main huts along the way. At the end of the trail, we decided to connect with the Greenstone Track because of weather considerations. All together, we hiked 71 kilometers (42.5 miles) in 5 days with our backpacks.





The huts on the Routeburn could hold up to 48 people and were equipped with mattress pads, gas cookers, coal-burning stoves and drying racks for your soggy clothing (this area is well known for heavy rains). Dinner was a lively affair and it was always interesting to see what other people chose to bring along (from the gourmet: bags of wine, vacuum-sealed venison to the basic: cup of noodles).

Views of a "Great Track" hut. Huts on non-Great Tracks are simpler and smaller.




Almost every hike we did at at least one swing bridge. These seem to be an integral part of the hiking experience in NZ.

The following is a collection of some of our best photos from the Routeburn and Greenstone Tracks. The large trees covered with mosses are beech trees - they made for stunning subjects, especially when the sun shone through the branches.










We had uncommonly good weather while on the Routeburn...but in this climate zone, such things never last. The rain and winds hit us hard as we left the Routeburn and started down the wide Greenstone River valley. Notice how happy Michiel is with the change in weather.