Routeburn Day 1

The Routeburn Jan 28 - 30

     Our 3 day, 20 mile hike on the track between the Southern Alps and the Fiordland National Park started on Saturday and ended on Monday morning. The park has been designated a World Heritage Area and is pristine. The morning of our 1st day was spent driving into Milford Sound and taking the 3 hour cruise up to The Tasman Sea...it was spectacular scenery but we got to our starting spot for the hike at  3pm so we got a late start...Just as we started the hike it began to mist a little with the promise of rain which followed very quickly. Not having really planned on doing the hike we were what you would call underprepared with equipment...we had rain coats and pants but no poncho’s or covers to keep our sleeping bags dry. We also were trying to carry overloaded day packs which don’t really travel well. Needless to say our 1st 5 hours of hiking were ugly., we got soaked, part of the gear was soaked and the way we packed was cumbersome and awkward. The views and scenery were spectacular and worth the effort but we were jumping for joy when we finally spotted the over night hut at 8pm...we took off some of our sodden clothing and walked into a room looking for dry, warm, instead we into the middle of a talk from the resident ranger...as we stood freezing he went on and on and on...all the jokes he threw out went unnoticed by us...we just wanted a warm place by the fire. Lights are out at 10pm so we barely had time for a little bit of dinner and getting our cloths draped over any surface to dry...the hut is set up bunkhouse style, which means on both sides of a walkway there are up and down bunks on both sides...nothing better than sleeping with 30 strangers...lots of snoring, moaning, turning and noises...I was so tired, wet and ready for a sleep I was able to blank it all out and have a great nights sleep.