Today was the last day of the track. We woke up early again to a beautiful sunrise over the Routeburn Valley. We had a quick breakfast and some hot chocolate then headed out as I had to make sure to be back to Queenstown in time for my 4:30 flight back home. The last leg of the track was mostly downhill and was much easier than the rest of the track. It ended up only taking us a little over 2 hours to finish, which put us way ahead of schedule. It was Leslie's birthday and since we were in the middle of nowhere and I didn't have any presents, I made her a cake out of a rock, some mud, and a stick for a candle. She was very happy but didn't eat any of her cake.It was a relief to finish the track but it had been a wonderful time with some of the most gorgeous scenery I had ever seen. We drove back to Queenstown taking in the beautiful sites of the Dart River Valley along the way. This Valley is near Glenorchy and was the scenery for Isengard in the Lord of the Rings movies. Once back in Queenstown, we had a nice big breakfast before Leslie dropped me off at the airport (she carried on to Milford Sound for a couple of days). For whatever reason, the annoying employees at the airport would not let me on an earlier flight even though there were empty seats as it is the airline's "policy" not to do this unless I pay for a whole new ticket so I sat around a read a book for a while. It was a great long weekend and I didn't want to get back to work...oh well, all good things must come to an end sometime.
Leslie with her "Birthday Cake"
View of the Routeburn Valley
Me crossing one of the suspension bridges
At the bottom of the Routeburn Valley
Leslie crossing the last bridge before the end of the track
Triumphant Finish!
The drive back to Queenstown
View of the river from one of the many single-lane bridges
Dart River Valley
More beautiful scenery
18 Km away 
What would NZ be without the sheep? 
It seems strange to have palm trees in this cooler environment 
Lake Wakatipu
View of Queenstown from up one of the mountains
All I can say is "WOW". The mind-boggling scenery, and your photos, just keep getting better. (You need to let me know how to make the larger res photos). What an experience!!! You will be spoiled, and views from Mt. Washington won't look so nice anymore. This trip looks like a must-do for our time in NZ. How soon ahead did you say we need to reserve?
ReplyDeleteBEAUTIFUL, BEAUTIFUL, BEAUTIFUL!!! LOOKING FORWARD TO OUR TRIP TO NZ EVEN MORE! MOM
ReplyDeleteNeat shot of Quessnstown w/the hangglider in the picture. Have you tried that sport yet? Also, I understand that bungee jumping is big in NZ, having been invented there. Dad
ReplyDeleteHey guys- yeah, you will definitely need to do this trip or one of the other "Great Walks" in the area. We'll have to figure it out when I'm home because they will need to be reserved in early July. I'll show you how to do the bigger pictures as well - the basic summary is that you need to view them in HTML mode and for height, width, and size, increase the number by 60%.
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