Highlights
by doing stag impersonations.
We passed a youngster with horrific blisters heading in the opposite direction with a school group. I gave her some of my tramping plasters; she was so grateful, she nearly burst into tears. After she hobbled off down the track, we had an animated discussion about tramping gear and the importance of never borrowing or renting boots, or undertaking a long hike in new boots as this girl had attempted to do.
In my opinion, your feet and boots have to become best friends. You should get them together a good six months before you take them hiking and make sure they bond well. After a champagne lunch by the foaming green, glacier-fed Matukituki River, we headed up the sun-filled valley with mountains towering above us on both sides, wading through crystal clear streams fed by waterfalls tumbling off cliffs high above us.
Especially eye-catching was the sheer-sided cleft in the mountains marking the route of the Rob Roy Track which takes trampers alongside a thunderous alpine torrent to the foot of the blue-green Rob Roy Glacier, a three to four hour side trip we have hiked many times.
Thanks to the advance guard, when we arrived at the hut late afternoon, the wood stove was raging and hundreds of candles cast a warm flickering glow in the cosy hut.
The sun was sinking fast behind Mt Aspiring staining the snowy mountain tops pink then gold.
There was a flurry of activity as people bagsed bunks and changed into their ‘‘party’’ clothes, a clean top and socks, and then the festivities began.
We celebrated the 60th by candlelight, feasting on Mt Cook salmon, beef cooked on a barbecue, and a delicious array of salads, desserts and birthday cake prepared by the birthday girls, their daughters and friends, and carted in earlier in the day by four-wheel-drives.
The canopy of stars on the clear moonless night, far away from city lights, was mesmerising. Much later, cocooned in a silk liner inside my down sleeping bag, I slept soundly in the communal bunkroom oblivious to the nocturnal noises of 50 other sleeping souls.
For those who had never stayed at a solar-powered, back country hut, it was a real education. They were awed by the experience. Some even decided to take up tramping.
Best for
This is a relatively short, easy hike so it would suit first-time trampers, families with children and the notparticularly-fit but keen-to-give-ita-go types.
It’s accessible and incredibly beautiful, making it an ideal experience for a special celebration ... or just a celebration of life.
The writer stayed in Wanaka courtesy of lovehomeswamp.com and was provided transport by jucy.co.nz