The Kepler

Well what can we say, we haven't showered for 4 days and have just returned to civilisation. The Kepler was fantastic and the alpine scenary was spectacular. On our way there we went to Milford Sound to relax before the big hike. We had beautiful blue skies and the boat trip was wonderful. We saw every Peak including the famous Mitre Peak which is the highest mountain coming out of a fiord. We were also lucky enough to see New Zealand fur seals and bottlenose dolphins.

Mitre Peak:

Then the onslaught of the Kepler began. We adorned our thermal leggings and shorts and looked very fetching.. let me say now no man should wear leggings without shorts! We will let you make your own mind from the pic below.


Speaking of weird things we did meet a man that constantly walked around in his y-front pants.. interesting, he even had a knack of picking a bed right beside us. First thing in the morning, the sight of a 50+ man climbing out of bed in nothing but y-fronts was just the thing to make you forget about any sore legs!

However all scenery was not bad and especially on day 2 when we walked along ridges and saddles all day. We were so fortunate that the weather was amazing as we could see for miles and miles. At certain stages along the route there were toilets and we had our most dramatic and scenic wee's ever!



We met loads of interesting people and had lots of noisy card games late into the night with just head torches for light.. you can imagine the hilarity.

Even though we were miles from any shops, etc and had to carry all our own equipment including pots, food and sleeping bags we found out we weren't totally out of contact with the outside world. Gav managed to sweet talk the warden at the first hut (a warden is there in summer to give you a weather forecast each morning as if it is too windy you could get blown off the top of the ridge as you walk along!) and get her to listen to the sport on her radio to find out if Man U managed to beat Arsenal. She brought great news the next morning of a 4-0 win which pleased Gavin no end. This of course was much more important than the weather forecast that I was waiting for, thankfully the winds were not too high and so it was safe to walk to the next hut. That was the day we scaled Mount Luxmore as a wee detour and stood on the top and felt very proud.



We can honestly say we really enjoyed the Kepler and would recommend it to anyone. The most scary thing was having to carry this huge pack but it was actually not too bad and I surprised myself with the ease of it. The only signs I have are some bruises on my hip bones!

The Ridge:




Next on the hit list is to head up the west coast and have a walk on a glacier and kayak at Abel Tasman National Park.