Greenstone Caples Track

 From Queenstown I took the track transport minibus out along the lake to the Greenstone car park. It passes through Glenorchy and the area where Top if the Lake was filmed. So too was the marshes scene from Lord of the Rings.

Lake Wakatipu

From there I had 4 days and 3 nights on the 61km long Greenstone Caples track ahead of me. Day 1 was beautiful and I took my time following the Greenstone River 12km up to the first hut.

Track

Greenstone River

Inside the Greenstone Hut

View from the hut

The hut was very comfortable and even had flushing toilets (all the huts on this track did). However the DOC warden warned us of heavy rain and wind coming in by lunch time the next day. So everyone was up early to beat the weather and I left about 6.45am.

It was wet all the way and I just kept my head down and walked the 18km as fast as I could.  Pretty good track with some boggy sections. I adopted the kiwi outfit of rain jacket and then shorts with leggings. There are so many river/stream crossings that your feet are inevitably wet. The worry is that with rain these side streams can become impassable. Luckily this wasn't the case. I made it to the McKellar Hut by midday just as the worst of the weather hit.  Even before I arrived I could smell the smoke and was delighted to find someone had the stove going and pretty soon there were a lot of clothes hanging to dry.

McKellar Hut

The next day it was raining again though not so heavily for the 22km to the Mid Caples Hut.  Luckily there was a very good track up to the 945m McKellar Pass where the rain was like wet snow. Indeed fresh snow lay only about 100m higher up. 

Boardwalk on the McKellar Pass

Once down through the trees about midday the sun came out and was joyfully received. 

Caples River looking downriver

Caples River looking upstream

Mid Caples Hut

The 4th day was also glorious and with only 9km to walk back to the car park I was again able to take my time and enjoy the scenery.

South Island robin

A great walk and good practice for walking in the rain. Back to Queenstown and then flight back to New Plymouth for Christmas and New Year with the family. I'll be heading back to the South Island on 6th January for a couple of tramps with Ben.