Weekend diversion: Jim Kayes takes a fast-track on the South Island's Great Walks, experiencing some of the best bits in style
There is a spot on the Back Road from Te Anau to Walter Peak Station that is almost impossible to capture in a photo.
It is simply too expansive in its beauty.
Sunburnt hills stand guard over brown fields, as a dusty road cuts through the landscape and a mountain biker washed in dust dots the horizon.
This is a bike ride of staggering beauty but it will also be a slog as the loose metal road is hard to ride on and stretches endlessly before you.
It’s hot too, with heat from above but also rising out of the arid soil.
We are heading for Walter Peak Station for lunch before catching the historic TSS Earnslaw steamer across to Queenstown for the final night of five in the deep south, and we’ve stopped to admire the view and use the long drop.
The secret to a long drop is to lift the lid and wait for the flies to move on, and then reverse in. Never look down. Reverse in. Both are very important.
There’s also an old cottage through the trees - ramshackle but sturdy, and highly photographable, but it is the view we are here for.
Spectacular views have punctuated our week based in Te Anau but there are some, like this, that force you to pause.
Another is at Eglinton on the Milford Road and the view from Luxmore Hut on the Kepler Track also commands attention.
It’s a flash hut with flush toilets and a well appointed kitchen and the perfect place to stop for lunch.
We flew to the Hut on a chopper, cutting out the arduous 14km walk up through the beech forest, but we did hike the remaining 4km to the peak and all the way back down to Brod Bay.
It was Day One of the three-day Great Walks package run by Trips and Tramps, a nifty way to get a taste of the Kepler, Milford and Routeburn tracks.
The first day was the toughest and I was worried about the walk down as a similar zigzag descent on the Tongariro Crossing had murdered my feet, leaving them blistered and crunched.
But that was in different shoes - shoes our lockdown puppy had since destroyed. My new shoes (basically running shoes with a much sturdier soul) were superb (I finished the day blisters free), and for the well maintained tracks of the Great Walks, they are all you need.
Guided walks are not for everyone but they are becoming increasingly popular.
Ninety hikers are allowed to start the Milford Track track each day and of those 40 are independent - staying in Department of Conservation huts - while 50 are guided, staying in luxurious huts that include showers, ensuite rooms, catered meals and a drying room.
The latter is important, as Fiordland is wetter than the Amazon with up to 10m of rain a year, and averaging seven.
As we drove the Milford road, a light splattering of rain tried to shift the dust from the van windscreen, smearing it across the glass instead.
“There’s no water,” Geoff, our guide and driver said, tugging in vain on the lever that squirts water across the windscreen.
I was more concerned with the raincoat I knew had been left lying on the back seat of our car. Rookie mistake ahead of our walk to Giants Gate Bridge.
Thankfully, as we came out of the Milford Tunnel we were met by sunshine.
It was the same the next day as we drove to the start of the Routeburn and the drizzle that followed us along the road had gone by the time we walked to Key Summit where the view was, again, breathtaking.
We were in Fiordland to walk, and the day hikes were superb with Geoff a walking encyclopaedia of local knowledge mixed, as it is with all good guides, plenty of humour.
A kea attacked our shoes and packs as we ate lunch at Luxmore Hut, prompting Geoff to explain that the birds are clever, having worked out how to use sticks to pry the bait from the thousands of traps set throughout the park aimed at stoats and rats.
"They have a wee snack on the bait,” Geoff says, adding that the Kea has the intelligence of a four year old. “Which means two years ago a Kea could’ve been president of the United States.”
And while we were there to walk, and the walks were great, the driving was enjoyable too.
We flew in via Invercargill which is about the same flight time from Auckland as to Queenstown and similar driving time to Te Anau, if you take the direct route.
We took the scenic one, via the beautiful Colac Bay, stopped for lunch at Orepuki, and drove through Tuatapere, the self declared Sausage Capital of New Zealand.
Milford Road is also good, rated one of the best drives in the world - Geoff said it’s in the top 10 - and the main road from Te Anau to Queenstown is a nice drive too.
But the Back Road is special as it wends its way past the Mavora Lakes with their sparsely populated campsites and cutting through Mt Nicolas Station and it’s 100,000 acres.
It is vast and desolate in its burnt-brown beauty, and a photo just doesn’t do it justice.
Things we did in Fiordland:
Great Walks package, Trips and Tramps, is a perfect appetiser for those who might want to do the full walks, and a great experience for those happy with a day walk.
Watched Ata Whenua. This film was largely shot by helicopter pilot Kim Hollows who also built the cinema to screen it - and he brews the beer in the bar. He’s also added a plush suite upstairs that we spent two nights in and is very good.
Definitely eat at the restaurants - The Fat Duck and Red Cliffs are both very good - but for a take away meal, Bao Now in the caravan behind the movie theatre is excellent.
Treat yourself to a few nights at the luxurious Fiordland Lodge. You won’t be disappointed.
Go for a Jet Boat ride, a cruise on the Faith (a historic sailer), rent a kayak or grab an ebike and ride the Lake2Lake track.
Jim Kayes travelled to the Deep South with Visit Fiordland and Trips and Tramps
