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Archives For 30/11/1999

John and Jean walk the Routeburn

Department of Conservation —  25/08/2014

After selling their house in the United States, retired couple John and Jean Strother have been travelling full time. They love to hike and backpack and have had some amazing adventures around the world — including here in New Zealand.

Today we’re sharing with you Jean and John’s experience (and beautiful photos) of the Routeburn Track…

The Routeburn Track: Beautiful beyond words.

Beautiful beyond words

The Routeburn Track, going east to west, starts in Mt Aspiring National Park and crosses into Fiordland National Park.

The Routeburn Track. Photo copyright: John Strother. All rights reserved.

Incredible landscapes

We decided to use huts as there is no camping at Routeburn Falls (we chose to not do the long day required to hike from Routeburn Flats over Harris Saddle to the campground at Lake Mackenzie Hut).

As the Routeburn Track is not a loop, we had to make some transportation arrangements, organising for our campervan to be driven from Routeburn Shelter (near Glenorchy and 68 km from Queenstown) where we started, to other end of the track at the The Divide Shelter (on the Milford Road, 85 km from Te Anau).

After arriving at the Routeburn Falls Hut (and securing two of the remaining three bottom bunks) we did some exploring in the area, John with camera in hand, as always.

Routeburn Falls. Photo copyright: John Strother. All rights reserved.

Routeburn Falls

The next day we headed toward Harris Saddle, enjoying views of Lake Harris along the way.

Lake Harris. Photo copyright: John Strother. All rights reserved.

Lake Harris

We stopped briefly at the Harris Saddle Shelter and climbed to the top of nearby Conical Hill for still more great views, including bits of Milford Sound and the Tasman Sea in the far distance.

Harris Saddle Shelter. Photo copyright: John Strother. All rights reserved.

Harris Saddle Shelter

John and Jean on top of Conical Hill.

John and Jean on top of Conical Hill

We then descended from the saddle and got our first sight of Lake Mackenzie, as well as the Lake Mackenzie Hut, which is barely seen at the far end of the lake—our destination for the day.

Lake Mackenzie

Lake Mackenzie

As we descended further, we entered what is aptly called “The Enchanted Forest”…

4-enchanted-forest-routeburn-strother

The Enchanted Forest

Earland Falls seen on the Routeburn Track

Earland Falls

The next day the track took us by Earland Falls…

…before leading to the end of the track where we were happy to see our campervan waiting for us in the parking lot at the Divide.

Read more on panafoot — Jean and John’s blog.

pan-a-foot (păn’ ũh fʊt) v. covering great distances to see more of the world under one’s own power

All of the photos used in this post were taken by John Strother © All rights reserved.

See more of their Routeburn Track photos on Flickr.

A big thanks to Jean and John for giving us permission for us to publish this on the Conservation Blog!

In Fiordland, Great Walks, Recreation, Walking/hiking/tramping , , ,
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Photo of the week: Snowing in Fiordland

Department of Conservation —  09/07/2014

Snow falling at Fiordland National Park Visitor Centre is today’s photo of the week.

The snow showed up around the country last week just in time for the arrival of the school holidays—the busiest two weeks of the ski season.

fiordland-visitor-centre-snow

The snowy and icy conditions have affected some of the tracks in the Fiordland National Park, so if you are planning on visiting please check the latest Fiordland alerts.

Photo by Caroline Carter, Partnerships Ranger.

In Fiordland, Photo of the week , , , ,
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Photo of the week: Sandhill Point viaduct

Department of Conservation —  26/02/2014

Today’s photo of the week is the 17 metre high and 59 metre long Sandhill Point viaduct in the rugged Waitutu Forest.

It is one of four giant timber viaducts built nearly a century ago on the south coast of the Fiordland National Park that will be restored under an agreement announced by the Minister of Conservation last week.

Sandhill Point viaduct. Photo: digitaltrails | CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

The viaducts were originally built in the early 1920s as part of a timber tramline to a local logging and sawmill operation.

Nowadays the viaducts are a spectacular part of the Hump Ridge Track which travels along the south coast of Fiordland. The restoration will mean that generations of New Zealanders and international visitors will continue to enjoy the historic features of this track.

This photo was taken by digitaltrails | CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

In Historic, Photo of the week , , , , , ,
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Photo of the week: Milford Sound, Fiordland National Park

Department of Conservation —  07/08/2013

This week’s photo, of the towering cliffs and peaks of the Milford Sound in the Fiordland National Park, was taken by photographer Jonas Seaman.

Milford Sound with storm brewing. Photo by Jonas Seaman via Flickr. Creative Commons.

When we ended up getting there [Milford Sound] the weather was actually quite nice, but there was something definitely brewing up above.

It illustrates how quickly New Zealand’s mountain environment can turn from warm and calm to treacherous.

Because of our “four seasons in one day” weather, and to improve the safety of those enjoying New Zealand’s parks, DOC has funded a new online mountain weather forecast service with the MetService.

The service, which launched a few days ago, will provide standardised five day forecasts, updated every day for 24 mountain locations across eight of New Zealand’s most popular parks. It means large areas like the Fiordland National Park now have forecasts for four different locations because the park is so large that the weather can significantly vary between east and west and north and south.

Is it the best New Zealand weather forecast? We think so!

Learn more:

– New online mountain weather forecast service – Media release, 31 July 2013

– MetService blog

In Photo of the week, Recreation , , , , ,
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The marvellous Milford Track

Department of Conservation —  05/02/2013

By Bronwyn Aalders, Team Lead – Graphic Design

Last year I took a walk in the park; a Great Walk, and the first of many I hope—the Milford Track.

Bronwyn Aalders and the team ready to walk the Milford Track.

The team on day one

As part of an initiative by Fiordland National Park Visitor Centre, DOC staff and local frontline staff were invited to experience first hand Fiordland’s Great Walks. I didn’t need any convincing and chose the Milford for its reputed beauty and tendency to fill up for months at a time.

Bronwyn sitting on the overhang at Mackinnon Pass.

Overhang at Mackinnon Pass

The opportunity to get out of National Office and into the outdoors is always a welcome experience, but this time particularly so. As the team lead of graphic design in the Publishing Team, my team and I have been working on lots of collateral around the Great Walks this year so experiencing one of them first hand was incredibly useful.

Lush foliage on the journey down toward Dumpling Hut.

Lush foliage on the journey down toward Dumpling Hut

It can be challenging to know just what our customers are wanting from a brochure, route guide or piece of merchandise, so to put yourself in their shoes for a few days certainly gave me an insight which I could return to the design studio with.

The lake at Mackinnon Pass with mountains in the background.

Reflections at Mackinnon Pass

The Milford Track didn’t disappoint and also convinced me that it can get pretty warm across the ditch (I’m from Australia). We were blessed with brilliant weather for our first three days, tramping in 28C heat amidst the sound of thunderous avalanches above us. This was also to be my first hut experience as I generally prefer a tent and the sight of no one. But I’ve come round to the idea now, aided by earplugs that actually worked and recognising the benefits of a sandfly-free refuge.

Whio sitting on a rock.

Whio – spotted during the walk out on day three

Highlights included seeing Mackinnon Pass in perfect weather twice – an evening hike up from Mintaro Hut on Day two (followed by an arctic swim in a tarn) and perfect morning mist on Day three. There were sounds of kiwi and kaka lulling me to sleep (followed by a weka quickly reversing that trend), and whistling whio on a drizzly final day walk out. This is starting to read like one of DOC’s brochures… maybe we’re not as far off as we think! It was the perfect Great Walk experience.

eading toward the most scenic outhouse in New Zealand.

Heading toward the most scenic outhouse in New Zealand

To see the Great Walks brochures , check them out on the DOC website (the Tongariro Northern Circuit brochure is coming soon):

Lake Waikaremoana
Whanganui Journey
Abel Tasman Coast Track
Heaphy Track
Kepler Track
Milford Track
Routeburn Track
Rakiura Track

In Great Walks , , , ,
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