You call that a "Great Walk"?

For what appears to be our last and final tramp, we literally stepped out of the front door of our hostel with packs on our backs to walk the 49 mile loop from Te Anau to the Kepler Track and back. Four days later we returned relatively unscathed and in reasonable spirits (blisters and aching feet took away some of the fun). Oh, and by the way, it was Chris who went through TWO blisteraid packs leaving me with mere bandaids...but in all fairness, his blisters were a bit gnarly.

It took us a total of 18 hours walking, from start to finish. But, that's almost shameful, considering some 300 people ran the track in an average of 7 hours in one day (the winner crossed the finish line in 4 hours, 49 minutes)! We happened to be on the trail during the "Kepler Challenge" endurance race. It's exceptionally impressive in that the runners had to climb ~4600 ft in one day and still complete a marathon distance.

The track is located in Fiordlands National Park where glaciers have cut massive gashes in the landscape creating fiords and mountain tops drape the landscape. Walking across the ridge line gives way to the most amazing view of the South Fiord.

We had plenty of time on the second day to pull over, sit back and admire the sight...that is until we suspected the annoying Texas Frat boy was fast approaching (I swear, this guy never stops talking). Then we took off and zig-zagged our way through 97 switchbacks, descending about 800 meters to our campsite. Where we had a quick dip in the frigid river, a refreshing cool down after a long day. But of course, we weren't alone. The battle between us and the sandflies quickly began and we were forced to retreat to our tent for the rest of the evening. Unfortunately, the Kepler track wasn't as impressive as the Routeburn, with much time spent in the beech forest, green moss gets old quickly. The third day felt much longer because of the latter. By the end of the day, I was dragging my feet, now more than 10 minutes behind Chris, and it must have shown on my face because when I approached our campsite, a guy took pity on me and handed me an ice cold beer. It's amazing how a Steinlager can change one's mood. (YES, I did share half of it with Chris!!)