HIKING THE ROUTEBURN TRACK

Talk about a crazy hike!  The Routeburn Track is one of the Great Walks of New Zealand.  We started the hike in The Divide and finished in Glenorchy.  The first day was around 7 miles and we hiked to the Lake Mackenzie Campsite.  We met some fellow Americans there who had quit their jobs and we sailing the world.  After talking to them for awhile, we headed to bed knowing that a storm was about to roll in.  We also encountered some critters outside of our tent while we were trying to sleep (yikes!).  Here’s when the storm started.  When I say it was windy..I mean it was windy.  It sounded like a hurricane inside our tent, but luckily we (and by “we” I mean my Dad..) assembled our tent to perfection and didn’t get wet or blown away!  The next morning, the winds were still roaring and then came the inches of rain.  We had about 12 miles to go on this day.  At parts of the hike, we had to squat down and hold on to rocks or bushes so we wouldn’t get blown off the mountain.  The trail literally turned into a stream (no exaggeration, trust me), but what amazed me the most was the positivity from the other 80+ hikers we saw on the trail.  Everyone was making the best out of the weather, so much so that it became a “who can be more sarcastic about how nice it is outside” competition as we greeted each other.  It was definitely a memorable hike.  Even though the weather was CRAZY, nothing can ruin a hike through New Zealand.

Lake Mackenzie

Day 2 Storm