Since the Kepler Track is our 1st 'great walk', we decided to add a bit on by walking directly from where we were staying in Te Anau, which adds an extra 3km to the distance. It was a nice flat walk around the lake though so didn't feel too bad. By starting at 8, we'd polished off 8k by mid morning. But then came the climb!
Day 1 of the track involves climbing 800m and, as it is a 4 day walk, the bags were heavy from all the food. The climb was unrelenting, but (unlike the Liverpool Hut climb in Aspiring national park) the path was quite well graded, and we got to the top by 2:00.
By 3:00, we'd found a bunk, had a cup of tea, chatted to a few locals, and were now bored! So we decided to do the climb to the summit today as the weather forecast was not so good for the following day.
This meant doing the first 3.5k of tomorrow's walk (twice) including an additional 400m climb, but we were unencumbered by the heavy bags and the view was worth it.
We seem to be upgrading our hut facilities as we go through the trip. The 1st hut just had a composting loo, the second one had flushing loos. This one has flushing loos in the same building!!! We're quietly confident of a hot tub in the next hut.
At 25k and 1200m climb, this was the toughest day so far, and our feet (Dave's especially) are not impressed.
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