It ain’t Nepal

16th March 2011
Routeburn Trek, Day 3

There’s little to tell of today’s trekking, under three hours downhill through beech forest. Friendly south island robins hopped out of the undergrowth to peck at our feet for insects. When we hit the bottom and found the car park there was a final treat to finish our trek – a jet boat ride on the Dart River.

The jet boat is shaped like a snub-nosed speedboat but has no propeller at all, nor anything sticking out under the water. This allows it to carry a dozen people at speeds over 50 mph along rivers only 10 cm in depth. This is ideal for the Dart, which is a glacial river made up of many winding braided channels. It flows out of the high mountains down a wide valley with peaks on all sides and glaciers in the distance, and the combination of the excitement of a jet boat ride in such majestic natural surroundings is fairly unbeatable. I might even be tempted use the superlative “breathtaking” two days in a row.

The Routeburn Trek has been an astonishing contrast to our Nepal treks. It’s actually rather surreal at times. Trekking four hours into the mountains through pouring rain… to find yourself in a superbly modern lodge with a lounge that feels like it should belong to a boutique hotel in Stockholm, and an exclusive one at that. Everything is helicoptered in on a weekly basis, including the selection of eight NZ wines and the eco-friendly toiletries. Apparently when one part of the hike was still unpassable due to snow early this season they would helicopter hikers past the tricky bit.

I’m intrigued to know whether there’s anywhere else around the globe that could challenge the Routeburn and Milford tracks of New Zealand for the title of “poshest trekking in the world”.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 16th, 2011 at 8:01 pm and is filed under New Zealand. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.