HOW TO GET HERE:
Routes: Number 6A. From Queenstown to Glenorchy to Routeburn Shelter .
Km: 50 km.
Hours: approx. one hour.
Routes from the Divide: Number 94 and Number 6 to Te Anau to Queenstown.
Km: 263
Hours: 3.30.
HOW WE GOT HERE:
We used www.tracknet.net from Queenstown to the starting point of the track. The van driver was a wonderful kiwi that explained the scenery during the drive there and stopped along the way to take some pics and show us one Lord of the Rings location: Isengard.
From The Divide a big coach took us from the End of the track to Queenstown by stopping for half an hour in Te Anau. This stop was good for a real coffee and get some throaties ( I was coughing) after 3 days into the wild. And above all , it was a rubbish drop off!!! Bye bye to our rubbish bag that had been with us all along the walk.
We did from Routeburn Shelter to the Divide
HOW TO BOOK:
www.doc.govt.nz This website helps a lot for a Great Walk like this. They do have offices everywhere where you get all the information, maps you need and you need to collect your tickets for huts or camping sites here to show to the ranger.
ACCOMODATION:
Our first overnight was at Routeburn Flats and the second night at Lake McKenzie camping site. You need to book the huts or camping sites during the Great Walks season like us. No free camping allowed.
Routeburn Flats Hut
OTHER TIPS:
To book the huts the earliest. We had booked 3 months in advance and it was not enough in advance. We had to overnight at Flats because the Routeburn Falls was fully booked already, the first night is recommended at Falls. At Lake McKenzie the hut was fully booked so we had to overnight at the camping site. This made us buy in Queenstown camping gear and stuff like a tent, a sleeping bag etc. Our tip now is to hire locally all this stuff and not to buy that. You can find outdoor equipment shops hiring stuff.
Our other tip is to pack as light as possible so if you hire a tent, hire the lightest one, we bought the cheapest one but heavier. If you book the soonest and you find beds in the huts, you light pack and you enjoy the walk more.
Lake McKenzie
People we met
The kiwi driver was great, a couple from Japan, a French guy, a Malaysian Guy, an Australian couple, an English couple living in Auckland, a guy from Arizona. Lots of other people, hikers during the track we said hello to each other.
WE WISH YOU THE BEST WEATHER, LIKE WE HAD!!!!!
Ale e Gale