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Glenorchy - Hiking the Routeburn Track

Day 3, Monday: Today we did an all day hike on the Routeburn Trail. 26 KM from Glenorchy is Mount Aspiring National Park and the trailhead for the Routeburn Trail. Fortunately, our guide from the Dart River Safari's told us that we could do an all day hike at Routeburn. All books and literature we had said that the Routeburn was a 3+ day hike, with huts that could be rented along the way (think really cheap youth hostel style accomodation). We did not have time (or desire to stay in said huts) to hike 3 days on the trail, so we went as far as we could and turned back.

Having proper gear really made an enormous difference. We were prepared for rain and cold, but were extremely fortunate with splendid weather not only on this hike, but for the entire trip. I can't say enough about base layers and gore-tex. Bless whoever invented them.

We walked first to the invigorating 6.5km (4 mile) walk up the wide and smooth track to Routeburn Flats, and stopped for lunch at the hut overlooking the river and the alpine meadow. Lunch was cut short by the sand flies (don't underestimate them! They are small but can wreak havoc on your skin in no time), so we started the 300m (980ft) climb, over 3km (1.9 miles) to Routeburn Falls Hut. The walk up to the waterfall was more challenging than the first section of the track, but was well worth the effort for all the incredible views.