Day Off - Kepler Track

Finally!  I  made it to a day off!  It haven't had a day off (that wasn't raining or on call) since I've been here.  That was until yesterday.  A perfect weather day.  I wanted to go do everything all at once, too much to get done and really only 4 or 5 weekends left to do them all.  After careful deliberation I decided to go with a walk up on part of the Kepler track near Te Anau.  It is one of New Zealand's "great walks."  To do the whole thing takes 5 days, and I had to be back by 5PM to pick up the pager, so alas I could only do about 6km of it by the time I drove to get there...

On the way to Te Anau, the hillside was full of happy sheep, finally drying out from all the rain we've been having.

I kept having to pull over to take pictures of the mountains... Still getting snow up on the mountain tops...  You'd think I wouldn't be acting like a tourist by now!

I had to stop by a creek bed to send home a picture of gorse.  It is always blooming in the spring, and fills the hillside with yellow flowers.  They insist that it is a weed here.  I think it infests the fields making it harder to grow things and graze their livestock.  At least it flowers nicely in the spring giving some nice color to the hills.

More sheep enjoying the wonderful weather under the mountains...

Lake Manapouri is still here and still looking great!  That is the starting off point for so many of our doubtful sound adventures.  Not today though.  Other plans await...

A little further up the road is the suspension bridge on Rainbow Reach road that is one of the entrances to Kepler track.

Apparently there are kiwi here.  Sorry, no dogs allowed, they kill kiwi.  Actually a dog would probably kind of be good to try to find one.  They are always advertised and never seen.  In our whole year here we only saw one kiwi in the wild down on Stewart Island when our moms were here.  I'll post that later, promise!

The bridge goes over the Waiau river.  It was a long bridge too, here's a view from the middle.  Strong, clear river.  No fishing pole today.  :(

On the other side of the bridge there was a downed tree.  There were lots of them over the whole hike.  The winds from the west can be severe and take them down from time to time.

The light came through the tree lighting the bush in different ways...

Lots of colors were on display, moss covered the ground just off the trail...

Not even a kilometer up, the trail opened up for another view of the river.

The river was typical of New Zealand rivers, braiding through the glacier ground rocks...

The mountains off the northeastern side of Lake Manapouri were visible in the distance...

Back on to the trail and into the bush.  They say parts of Lord of the Rings was filmed in this area... not exactly sure where or which part...

Second suspension bridge, this one lots smaller...  Kiwis love their suspension bridges!

Hobbit hole?

About half way through the walk, there was a boardwalk leading out of the woulds into a large open wetland...

This little lake in the wetland was a nice spot for ducks, swans, and shags that were hanging around...

More peaks in the distance... hardly a cloud in the sky...

Back down the boardwalk and into the bush.

Another boardwalk crossing another marsh.  Even the bogs were looking good today!

A bunch of ferns found some nice shade...  Perfect place for an Ewok attack!

Finally made it to the lake.

Never been on this side of Lake Manapouri before...

The mountains in the distance were scarred by frequent tree slides...

Drift wood on the beach...  good place for a quick rest...

Moturau hut...  One of several huts on the 5 day Kepler Track.  Nice digs, but I wasn't spending the night...  This was the halfway mark, and time to head back if gonna make it back for call...

Only took a few pictures on the way back... This sad stump was eaten alive by little mushrooms...

Made it back to my car without a hitch.  Went and grabbed some quick dinner in Te Anau and then back to get the pager.  So far a few calls but an average weekend.  

It's Guy Fawkes weekend here again.  I posted on it last year if you wanna take a look.  Guy Fawkes Day.  Hopefully we don't get rained out.  Then off to Pip's for dinner tomorrow night, so an eventful weekend even though I'm stuck on call.  Have good plans for my remaining weekends so stay tuned.