Mount Luxmore
Going to Te Anau, I got on the bus on a gloomy and cloudy morning. At a few points along the way the bus driver talked about the places we were passing and their history, but I found it difficult to understand him (mainly because of the low speakers), so I didn’t pay much attention to his words. By the time we got to Te Anau the weather was improving, but still a bit cloudy. As my accommodation was right by the lake I had a good view of it, which to me wasn’t as beautiful as the lake in Queenstown. It got better when the sun came out, but by much. It was a pretty calm day where nothing really happened.
The following morning I made my way to the boat (or the “water taxi” in its more official name) and along with a few other people crossed the lake over to Kepler Track with the goal of getting to the summit of Mount Luxmore and back down to the lake in time for the boat ride back to town.
The other people from the boat moved ahead and I found myself starting the track behind everyone else. Straight away, I was in the thick of the woods, walking up a dirt path which was so easy to follow I thought it could’ve been done in flip flops. I could hear the boats, seaplanes, and helicopters moving around, their sound gradually fading. There were also some birds and insects, their singing and buzzing competing with the vehicles. For a while, nothing really special happened. The road got a bit rougher although not steep, and I passed a few other hikers, but other than that I was left with my own thoughts. For the first time, I found myself very aware of the sound of my own footsteps. I focused on them, breathing in and out, which felt like a mediation of sorts, although I don’t have much experience with that. One step after the other, I tried to maintain a good pace. I didn’t want to go too fast and exhaust myself early on, while at the same time I wanted to make sure I won’t miss the boat back to Te Anau.
There were no signs along the road and I had no idea how far I still needed to go. It was steep in parts, but not really challenging at any point. The forest scenery was nice, but repetitive and not all that interesting. Then, out of nowhere, was a big rock, a stone wall, and on top of it was another hiker on the way to the top. I turned a corner and saw a short staircase which led to the top of the rock. From there I kept going on the trail for a while, which at parts was an incline and at other parts was pretty leveled. A little while later there was another staircase, a bigger one, and at the top of it I met a couple of hikers on their way down who informed me there is about an hour walk until Luxmore Hut, a resting stop before going up to the summit (and possibly continue even further for a multi-day hike). They also told me that about half way through the road will get leveled.
Looking at the clock, it seemed I made good progress, and I was a bit more relaxed as I kept going up. Soon enough the prediction was right, I was out of the woods and back under the sun on a mostly leveled ground. There were some bends in the road, and a few inclines, but nothing too serious. I also started seeing a few more hikers at that point. After clearing the trees, I was able to take a look at the view once more, which was a welcome sight. Mountains could be seen wherever I looked, and I wondered which one was the actual summit of Mount Luxmore. I made my way along the dirt path, and eventually I saw Luxmore Hut. Next to it, there was a landing pad for helicopters, which was a surprise. I sat at the resting area and watched a couple of helicopters land, drop off their passengers at the hut, and take off back to where they came from. There was also a Kea bird in the area, trying to grab people’s bags and food. As it got close to me and tried to grab my bag, I noticed it had a tag with the number 2 on it.
After I had a little rest I got back on my feet and started to make my way from the hut to the summit, which according to the sign I saw was going to take an hour and a half. I had enough time to go there and back without rushing myself, so I just tried to maintain the pace I had so far and not get too tired too quickly. I was going uphill again, although thankfully not at a steep angle, and I assumed it would be like that all the way to the summit. There were people going up and down the path, and at times one of us had to stop to give room for the other, as the path wasn’t always wide enough. Pretty much everyone was friendly and understanding, greeting each other on the way. The wind started to pick up and get colder, which wasn’t the most comfortable scenario. Thinking it will probably be colder at the top, that was one thing I didn’t look forward to. I stopped a few times to rest and drink water, trying to not take too long with it. I wasn’t sure how far I actually was from the summit, but I knew it can’t be too far ahead. More people passed by me, and eventually I saw some people resting next to a sign. As I got to the sign and was able to read it, I found myself quite confused. The trail kept going straight (more or less), but the sign pointed to the side, saying that was the way to the summit. But there was no trail, just a huge pile of stones and rocks. After a few more moments of confusion I asked the people who were resting there how to get to the summit, and they said I need to climb over those rocks and “keep going until you can’t go anymore”.
I accepted this weird turn of events and started climbing. According to the sign, I was about ten minutes away from the summit, so I was determined to not stop again until I got there. It wasn’t too difficult to go up, but having to make my own path was definitely a challenge, constantly trying to look for the easiest path to take. At a few points along the way I thought I got to the top, only to go past it and see it go even higher. But then I finally saw people sitting down, and when I got to them they cheered me on and congratulated me for making it all the way up. I sat down next to them, happy to have made it to the summit of Mount Luxmore. The view all around me was beautiful, and I enjoyed just spending time at the summit looking at it. The wind, surprisingly, wasn’t that strong up there, so it wasn’t unpleasant to be there. After I sat down, I noticed a Kea bird. And when it got close to me I was able to see the tag it had. It was number 2 again, the same bird I saw down at Luxmore Hut. Once more, it looked for food and tried to grab people’s bags.
I rested for a while at the summit, just relaxing and looking around, and then it was time to make the long way back down again. It wasn’t too steep at any point, but I still had to be careful where I placed my feet. After clearing the pile of rocks I was back on the dirt path, and as I saw going downhill I didn’t feel the need to take any more breaks until I was back at Luxmore Hut. I stopped there to have another break and eat my lunch while looking at the view. Originally I hoped to be able to go into the Luxmore Cave and explore it before heading back to the lake, but I wasn’t sure I’ll have enough time for that, and in addition to that I already felt tired from the hike so far. Knowing I still have some distance to cover, I got back on my feet and resumed the hike down the mountain.
I passed the leveled section pretty quickly, and I was back in the woods. That part was the less interesting part, and there wasn’t much to look at. It was still a nice walk in a shaded area, but there wasn’t much to it. At a few points I took a short break before moving on, and by the time I got back down to the lake I didn’t have to wait too long before the boat arrived. However, there were other people there, a few individuals like me, and also a large group. As there was not enough room for all of us, the group got on the boat and left the rest of us by the water. The boat driver said he’ll come back to pick us up, but I still thought it was poor planning to just have one small boat if many people registered for it. A bigger boat, or at least an additional boat, would have solved that issue. So we had to wait for a little while longer, and during that time a few more people made it down the mountain. After dealing with the sand flies for a while, the boat finally came back, and we were able to get back to Te Anau.
Tired from the hike, I wanted to do something a bit more relaxed and casual around town, so I headed over to Punanga Manu o Te Anau Bird Sanctuary. I made it just in time to join the guided tour with a small group, and after waiting for a little while we were on our way. The first spot we visited was supposed to have some ducks in it, but no one was able to see them. I felt like we were there for a bit too long for no real reason, and was relieved when the guide walked away toward the Takahē enclosure. We were able to get inside, feed the birds, and take a closer look at them. Our guide was able to provide quite a bit of information on them which was an added bonus of taking a tour. From there we moved on to look at some ducks, and then a couple of parrots, and that was about it. The place turned out to be quite small with not much in it. The tour definitely added value to it, but it still wasn’t very impressive.