Kepler Track – Great Walk

November 4 – 7, 2020

Kepler track is a 60km loop track in Fiordland starting from Te Anau. We booked 3 nights along the route. I hiked this back in Nov 2020 with my 2 sisters. We hired a campervan and road-tripped around the South Island for 3 weeks. In the height of Covid, the hire of a campervan became extremely cheap – half the price we last checked once the borders opened.

Day 1 – Luxmore Hut

same blood same stride

The first day had the most elevation gain of the whole track. The first hour was steadily flat through a native forest, noticing the sandflies already. The climb felt like a slog, especially with our heavy packs that we weren’t quite used to. We foolishly (due to my advice) carried about 4L of water each, fearing we’d run out. Little did we know Fiordland is one of the wettest areas of NZ. From the next day onwards we carried an appropriate amount.

We reached Luxmore hut around 6.30 pm, very much ready for some food. Luxmore Hut is voted to be one of Kiwi’s favourite huts in NZ (reliable source: fb post with polls) overlooking Lake Te Anau from the dining room. The photo I’ve inserted below is not mine (because I never seem to take photos of huts). It really is a stunning location. We unluckily had clouds swarming in, but we were able to see the view the next day. I should mention the hut warden here, she was just awesome. A fun lady who sang us her own song she wrote about stoats. All the while she held up a stuffed dead stoat that she passed around for all of us to pat.

Day 2 – Iris Burn Hut

The weather forecast for this day wasn’t great – especially in the morning. The advice from the warden was to specifically have a slow morning and start the hike LATER. That sounded great to us. However, the next morning every single person was out of the hut by 7-8 am. Is it to reach the next hut early to claim the best bunks? We seemed to be the only ones having a lazy breakfast- I mean for once in our life we were told to do so!

Even with a slow morning, we couldn’t avoid the rain. I still love hiking in the misty clouds though – always gives a mystical eerie feeling. We stumbled across a new friend on the way – the infamous cheeky Kias, who refused to leave us alone and followed us along the track. As we were the last ones to leave, we pretty much had the track to ourselves until we caught up with the elderlies.

There was an emergency shelter along the track for us to hide out from what felt like a blizzard. We waited out for the rain along with other hikers here. It was freezing! Eventually, by early afternoon, the weather had calmed down, fogs had lifted up, and ohh la la we saw some pretty views. I love all the flora up in the subalpine altitudes. Dry yellow tussocks and red coarse vegetation.

Once we were back in the bush, it was a steady steep downhill until Iris Burn Hut. This section was hard on the legs (downhill is just as hard as uphill!). Iris Burn Hut was situated on a flat clearing in the forest. We met an adventurous Japanese hiker who fell in love with NZ and its niche coffee culture. His plan was to open up a cafe in Wellington. He seemed very fit, as he decided to trail run back up to Hanging Valley just to see the view he missed in the morning.

Day 3 – Moturau Hut

There was a 40-minute detour to a nearby waterfall by Iris Burn Hut. 20 minutes there, 20 minutes back. We checked it out in the morning before we started our hike. It was pretty.

Day 3 of Kepler track mainly takes you through the forest, and you can definitely complete this route by finishing back to the carpark on this day, but we booked another night at Motarau hut to take our time and enjoy the experience.

Motorau Hut (again, not my photo), was situated by Shallow Bay, part of Lake Manapouri. The location was lovely, and we all watched the sunset by the lake. Though sandflies here felt like swarming Locusts and the worst I’ve ever seen (I’m also typing this up after TA). You must cover yourself head to toe with clothes or it’s sandfly munch city. This hut was really clean, with flushing toilets if I remember correctly.

We walked with the same group of people since day 1 and everyone had gotten to know each other the last 3 days. There were about 30 of us. It weirdly felt sad that it was our last night with them on the track.

closest to a photo of a hut I have

Day 4 – Back to the carpark.

The last day was mainly in the forest, with occasional boardwalks through the wetlands of Fiordland. I didn’t take many photos of this day, except for this huge suspension bridge

As this hike was last minute planned, we didn’t bring any pots or gas. Our dinners were tuna and dry crackers for 3 nights straight. We couldn’t stop talking about what meals we were craving. Strangely soup was one of them. The forest walk was lovely, and the air of the thick wet bush in Fiordland alone is worth coming back for. But we were also hungry and couldn’t wait to get back to Te Anau.

I unfortunately caught a cold right before the start of Kepler, and it had progressively gotten worse each day. I was down with a fever and a migraine at last night’s hut and hiked the last day with a tissue in my hand to sniff every 10 seconds. And in combination with fit sisters, I was falling behind. I felt a striking ache in my joints with every step. My sister Jess (frustrated with my turtle pace) came up with the idea of leaving me behind at Rainbow Reach carpark while she and Lisa continued to the carpark where our campervan was, picking me up afterward. They lightened their load to leave with me and said goodbye. I waited for 2 hours before my hero sisters came back with the van to save the day.

Kepler track is a spectacular hike. It’s the one I recommend straight off the bat when I get asked for recommendations. Unlike Milford and Routeburn, there’s no complicated logistics to get to and back from the track. The scenery is amazing, and the difficulty is somewhat still there but in a fun way, the maintenance of the track is mind-blowing, all in all, a top-notch hike.