Eastside Routeburn To The Flats Hut

We did this day hike in 2009, preparing for the larger Routeburn tramp, then as part of the descent on the Routeburn; then the day hike again in 2014. It's a beautiful 4-5 hour walk, mostly astride a beautiful river, to the high Flats and the DOC hut there.

They're still trying to eradicate many of the small predators
introduced in the 19th century, in order to save the kiwis and
other defenseless critters

After ten years of this, Vicki no longer has to conquer her fear
crossing swing-bridges; in New Zealand, anyway

Mountains, forests, river

Violent, big white-water, then beautiful, still, green pools

The water here is about a foot deep, but so clear as to be
invisible

Trap (and not the "Hav-a-heart" variety)

In the Flats

The Flats Hut

Standard manicured Great Walks Track

Endless beeches, ferns, fern trees

End of hike

To Glenorchy And The Routeburn, 2018

We wanted to do a day-hike on the Routeburn Track, to the Flats Hut, something we'd done before, twice, maybe thrice, and so drove on from Kington, through Queenstown, and up the lake (Wakipitu) to Glenorchy and beyond. Another beautiful drive.

NZ's second largest tourist population is Chinese; don't know what the largest is

Vicinity of Isengard

In 2014 and before, Glenorchy was a sleepy little lakeside hamlet--pastoral squalor--
with one of the more sub-standard campgrounds we visited in those years; all this has
changed; Glenorchy has been discovered; the campground is quickly becoming a
glampground, with upscale cottages...

The campground store--just milk, beer, bait, canned goods, not so
long ago--is now a fairly upscale boutique, gourmet foods (so
to speak), etc.

And some really nice clothing, trinkets, other stuff

Milford Sound, 2018

We rode out the storm February 1st, heavy rain beginning the evening before, then throughout the day and night and into the next morning. We've been to Milford Sound twice before--walking in 2009, and kayaking, and driving in and tenting and cruising in 2014--and we wanted to see it again, not merely because it's one of the world's great sights, but because of the waterfalls we figured would sprout up after the cyclone. There are glaciers and perennial snowfields all around, and scores of waterfalls from them, but after a heavy rain (we knew from 2009), scores more open up spectacularly, if briefly. So we undertook the 120k drive from Te Anau to Milford.

For the first 90k or so, it's mostly Lake Te Anau to look at, then, after the Divide
(and the western end of the Routeburn Track), things get alpine, interesting...

Waterfalls en route

More waterfalls; but, alas, these, and everything else we saw, are
perennials; as a Routeburn hut warden later explained, those
cloudburst waterfalls last just hours...and we were there the next day

Nonetheless, there was plenty to look at

The old, rough-cut, one-way, 1200m Hollyford Tunnel; still a thrill!

Alpine driving

More waterfalls

Valley

Iconic Milford view

Mitre Peak

The Sound and surroundings

Cruise boats and ships arriving/departing every few minutes

We thought we'd take a short lakeside walk...but the king tides were still in effect,
apparently

And we were soon driven back by water rising over the boardwalk!

The fiord suddenly became quite still and I got this wonderful shot (not!)

Headed back

We stopped briefly in Te Anau and then drove all the way to the lay-by on
Lake Wakitipu, near Kington, where'd we had lunched a few days before, and
stopped there for the night