Kepler Track Day 1 – Shallow Bay Hut Campsite

January 3rd, 2003 at 12:00am

6:15pm at the campsite and this small 6-person hut. There is no one staying in the hut here (yet) and there are 4 people camping – me, one Scottish woman, and an Israeli couple. Not bad considering it’s only 3 days after New Year’s and still the height of the season.

This morning I was up and out of the motor park by 8am. I walked through town on my way to the DOC office and I stopped to grab a coffee along the way. At DOC I inquired about bookings for the Kepler and they advised me that it was full going the traditional way but if I wanted to do the loop in the opposite direction that there was still camping space available. So I said ok let’s do it. I booked my campsites and then headed out to the road for the 4 km road walk down to the start of the track. Just as I was crossing the street a DOC vehicle pulled out of the parking lot and the 2 guys asked if I needed a lift to the trailhead. Cool! They took me around the Te Anau Lake and to the carpark where the tramp began.

It was just over 3 hours of walking for me today (14.5 km) and the trail was really very pretty, often lined with huge ferns as far as I could see. It was all through the bush today – I won’t be getting above the treeline until the day after tomorrow. Weather was cloudy all day and they are forecasting rain for this evening and tomorrow but as of yet it’s just been cloud.

When I arrived at this hut there was no one here and I set up my tent and then sat on the bench in front of the hut, and as I sat down a falcon flew down the trees and sat himself on a branch just above my head. What a beautiful bird! He just sat there watching me for nearly an hour! I was sure it was a bird of prey but verified my suspicion with the park ranger/hut warden who showed up to check up on the hut. She said it’s very unusual to see a falcon in such low elevations and especially to see one for such a length of time. I guess he finally got bored with me and decided to fly off and that’s what he did. I watched him fly across the lake and into the forest. A great encounter with nature!

Well I guess it was too good to be true to be the only one here – it’s now after 8pm and not only do we have more campers (2 more for a total of 6) but we now have evil boat campers who have motored up and carried cooler after cooler and bag after bag into the little hut and they have been so loud and obtrusive that I have been tempted to shout’GO AWAY!’ more than once already. It’s going to be a long night. Best to get up early and get away from the circus punters as quickly as possible. At least this campsite tonight is free so I’m saving a few bucks and not paying for the crowds. They seem to be French by the way. I’ll be happy when the season dies down a bit down here.

The shores of Te Anau Lake

River Walk

My home away from home

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