Routeburn Track Days 1 and 2 – MacKenzie Hut Campsite

January 1st, 2003 at 12:00am

I’m having a great welcome into the New Year out here in the woods of Mt. Aspiring National Park in New Zealand. Yesterday for New Year’s Eve I hike the start of the Routeburn Track with Sharlene, Kent, and her friend Sally. It was a mere 1.5 hours into the first hut which we didn’t even start until 5pm but we came well prepared with a bottle of wine each plus 2 bottles of champagne. Sally’s friend Sarah is the hut warden at the Routeburn Flats Hut and so I was invited with Sally to stay in her private hut while Sharlene and Kent camped nearby.

It was a beautiful spot with a river running directly in front of the hut and snow-capped mountains in the distance. I think the guidebook may actually describe this area as’ridiculously beautiful.’ Couldn’t think of a better place to ring in the New Year and I was happy to be in the company of Kiwis to make it an authentic New Zealand experience. We all had dinner in Sarah’s hut and started in on the wine and after a long day we were all struggling to stay up for the New Year but we did and after that went outside to admire the stars on an absolutely perfectly clear night. It was amazing. Not long after that we were all heading to bed and asleep for the night. Until that is about 2:30am when there was a loud knock at the hut warden’s door which turned out to be 3 DOC employees who hiked down from the other hut in the middle of the night to surprise Sarah for the New Year. They had several beers and a box of wine and before I was even fully awake I was handed a glass of wine and started drinking with the new bunch. They were all really funny, telling stories of their trampers, or’punters’ as they actually call them. Then they got on the radio to another group of employees somewhere else in the park and we all chimed Happy New Year to them over the radio and they did the same back to us. It was crazy silly fun. 2 of the 3 finally left after 3am sometime; the other one decided to crash on the floor for the night and I was able to go to bed sometime after that.

This morning we all had breakfast together and then I continued through the Routeburn Track on my own while Sharlene, Kent, and Sally went off for a day hike and then back out to the carpark. I wound up leaving the flats around 11am and had 12 km to go to get to the MacKenzie Hut. The weather could not have possibly been any better for the first day of 2003 – we had bright sun, blue skies, and just a gentle breeze all day. I couldn??t believe it!

It was a’bit of an uphill slog’ as they say here, to get from the Flats (270 m) up to the first hut (1000 m or 3000 feet) and then further up to the Harris Saddle (1277 m). It took me just over 2 hours. It felt good to pass the dozen or so people I passed along the way – finally starting to feel like I’m getting in shape again. I still love to pass the burly guy who can’t stand to have a girl pass him, and especially a girl wearing sandals!

I was feeling good still when I got to the Saddle so I decided to drop my pack and do the side trip to the top of Conical Hill (1515 m) which is a one-hour return trip from the Saddle. There were a few patches of snow to negotiate going up and down which wasn’t exactly the easiest in sandals but I did it no problem. The views from the top were amazing. Lakes, rivers, valleys, mountains, snow – 360 degrees of it.

Got back down to the Saddle and had another 2.5 hours to MacKenzie Hut where I’m tenting for the night. It was a relaxing walk in the afternoon with the weather being so good and I only saw 2 people on the way here so that was cool. At the campsite I set up my tent and went out to the picnic table to make some grub and spent the whole evening talking with Robin, a Kiwi guy, and Sophie and Dave, an English couple working in Christchurch. So I’m glad I’m here and not in the hustle and bustle of crazy Queenstown and to have such perfect weather has been an added bonus. Tomorrow is the last day of the Routeburn so I’ll be hiking out to the road and from there I’m off to Fiordland.

Sharlene and Sally on New Years Day 2003

Harris Saddle on the Routeburn Track

Views of Lake MacKenzie

Entry Filed under: Hiking/Trekking,New Zealand,Routeburn