11-15 March 2025

Leader: Nisa Promchot, Matt Freeland

Day 1 Routeburn Shelter carpark to Routeburn Falls Hut (9km)

Lindsay Trotman (a non-member), Sai, JP and I travelled by car earlier and met up with Matt, Jacqui and Katrina (also a non-member) in Queenstown the night before the trip and we took the 8am shuttle to the carpark at Routeburn Shelter. We walked along the well-formed gravelled track, crossed a few footbridges and then a shower hit us, as expected. By the time we reached the Routeburn Flats Hut, all of us were soaking wet but the weather was hot so some showers didn’t bother us that much. We stopped for lunch there and enjoyed the lovely view of the expansive tussock flat. After lunch, we climbed up 300 m to the Routeburn Falls Hut around 2pm. The rain had stopped by then, so we all had a few hours chilling in this beautiful hut before calling it a night.

Day 2 Routeburn Falls Hut to Lake Mackenzie Hut via Harris Saddle (11.5km plus side trip to Conical Hill)

We left the hut on a cold, foggy and almost raining morning but it didn’t stop us having photos taken at the waterfalls which are just behind the hut. We spent two hours climbing up, over and across cliffs above Lake Harris to the Harris Saddle (I found this bit hard, but the majestic view kept me going). Past the narrow sidle through bluffs, the track bends around and over the saddle to the Harris Saddle Shelter. The sky above us cleared soon after.

We left our packs at the shelter, then climbed up 260 m to the Conical Hill (1515 m). The view at the top was breathtakingly beautiful. We were also lucky enough to have a close encounter with Keas.

After a late lunch at the shelter, we kept walking along the long ridge with the view of the Darran Mountains and Upper Hollyford Valley. We spotted the Lake Mackenzie Hut in the distance but it took us another 1.5 hours to zigzag sharply down to it. From a distance, it looked like 2-3 small lakes (instead of the beautiful Mackenzie Lake) because of the low level of water after months of no rain. There was a lovely goblin forest (these trees have grown on rocks, not soil) before the hut. We reached there around 5.30pm which was still a sunny, warm evening.

Day 3 Lake Mackenzie Hut to McKellar Hut (16km)

We left the hut on a cold morning, but it warmed up very quickly. We climbed up over the hills in the lovely rain forest bush along the lake to 174 m high Earland Falls, where of course we stopped to take some photos.

We walked through the beech forest to Lake Howden and had lunch there (here it's the end of the Routeburn track, only a 1 hour walk out to The Divide from here) but out trip wasn’t finished.

We turned left to the Caples Track and went along to the junction where we parted with Jacqui and Katrina who went to the Upper Caples Hut for a night before finishing the trip a day earlier than the rest of the group.

The remaining five of us went along the McKellar Lake to the McKellar Hut which surprised us that it wasn’t near the lake as we expected. We arrived around 4pm. It was a lovely, sunny and warm evening so we all went to have a swim in the shallow river by the hut before dinner. We were impressed with the ranger who kept the hut and surroundings in mint condition. He also told us that Brad Pitt was in the in Glenorchy/Kinloch for a few days shooting “Heart of the Beast” (Queenstown is stepping in as the backdrop for Alaska). We saw the filming set but no sign of Mr Pitt himself.

Day 4 McKellar Hut to Mid Caples Hut (22 km)

We spotted a helicopter that was picking up toilets from the fancy hut nearby in the morning as we were leaving the hut. We back-tracked from yesterday to the junction, then crossed over the clearing to the zigzag and gently climbed up for two hours and a bit across the McKellar Saddle (954 m) from which we could see both the Caples and Greenstone Valleys. JP lost his brand-new water bottle somewhere on the way. After reaching the top, we walked on the long boardwalk over alpine tarns and had our lunch in a sunny spot just before going into the bush. We had a wee rest, checking out the Upper Caples Hut and topping up water there.

From here, we walked along the Caples Track in the beautiful bush along the Caples River. At this point, just before we reached the grassy farm flats, JP said he needed a dip in the river, otherwise he would die. (And he just had a splash as the river was too shallow and too cold!)

Later, Sai and I decided to have a "girl’s wee dip" so we sent the three guys walking ahead to the hut which was only an hour away.

The Mid Caples Hut was lovely, and we had the big bunk room to ourselves. The evening was nice and warm with heaps of sand flies of course!

Day 5, Mid Caples Hut to Greenstone Road end (10 km)

We left the hut at 8.45am to make sure we will be at the road end for shuttle pick up at 12.45pm.

We walked past the fantastic swim hole near the hut. The track was beautiful, with both little ups and downs all the way. Around 30 minutes before the road end, we passed the swing bridge over the Caple River to the Greenstone Track. We reached the road end early and the shuttle picked us up a bit later. We travelled back to Queenstown and had our deserved beers and hearty meals.

We had a fabulous time on this trip; the weather has been better than expected, it was great and perfect. Another big trip done and dusted.

Those on the trip were:

Jacqui Marshall, John Peterson, Matt Freeland, Nisa Promchot, Sai Frampton, Katrina, Lindsay Trotman

Currently there is no photo album for this trip.