Ted's Hiking World Tramping New Zealand

DAY 5 - Rob Roy Glacier

It's a perfect day outside this morning — the best yet.  Over at the Big Fig, though, I am told that I need cash because their card-device isn't working.  Well, I don't have any of that; so I head off in the car to find an ATM, finally locating one just two doors down from the coffee house — in the other direction.

I order my coffee ($2.70 U.S., no refill), then discover that their Internet service is down as well.  By the time I finish my little log, however, order has been restored.

Today's venue is touted in the brochures as the Best Half-Day Tramp in New Zealand.  By now Dave and I know that 'Half-Day' means half a day for youngsters, but a full day for us.  Someone's thinking seems geared to a 20-mile standard for a typical hiker, yet I never have done that long a day-hike in my life.

*
The access road

It's forty-five minute drive out of town past the turnoffs for two of our previous outings; then the "sealed road" ends and the washboards commence for the next 18 miles.  One brochure had issued a dire warning about having to cross rivers and whatnot; but we must try it anyway.

As predicted, half a dozen small fords are encountered, but nothing is more than about four inches deep; so even this non-off-road-worthy vehicle of ours can handle it.  The greater problem is the washboards themselves, which occasionally slow us down to as little as ten miles per hour.

*
The trailhead parking lot is full
*
Map of our walk

They don't call them trails here, but tracks.  Does that make this place a trackhead?

*
Traversing a big meadow

Shortly after starting out, I opt to stash my walking stick beside a remote bush.  This route being so popular, how bad could it be?

*
West Branch Makutituki River

*
This man drowned while saving his son's life

You can read more about it here: <nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article>

*
End of the easy strolling

*
We just came from there

* *

Fun stuff ahead

*

*
Looking up the valley

*
Now we're following the Rob Roy Stream

*
No rocks are encountered today

*

*
Preview of coming attractions

It is a thousand-foot climb through deep forest to the Lower Lookout.

*
Rob Roy Glacier.  Note the waterfall in front

Along with many others, we pause here for a snack.  Should we continue upward?  Of course!  The signpost says that it's just another 30 minutes, but we know better.

*
The view gets better, and better

*
This is why I go hiking

Photographs really fail me here, mostly because we're staring directly toward the sun.  In view are a dozen waterfalls of various shapes and sizes.

*
One of many

*
A pretty unusual tattoo, for a man

*

Off to the right is another section with its own grouping of waterfalls.  A trail heads over toward it, but most hikers are content to stop right here.

*

*
Basking in the warm sun

*
*

*
*

One almost hates to leave this place, but it has to happen.

*
Starting back

*
Rob Roy Stream

*

Along the trail the late-season flowers are, as previously mentioned, quite familiar: dandelions, clover, and thistles.  I had expected to encounter a lot of new varieties, as was the case in Italy; but nothing has caught my eye as yet.

*
St. John's Wort

*
The hard stuff is nearly over

*
Makutituki River

*
The Swinging Bridge was built in 1987 and renovated in 2013

*

I stop to retrieve my walking stick.  Someone actually has moved it, but at least it was left there for me.

*
The end is in sight

*


§: What a great walk!  Some alpine scenery at last.  This one has lived up to its hype as the best shorter hike in the country.


The drive back seems to take forever; for the wash-boarded road seems worse than on the way in.  I for one am quite pleased to be done with it.  It was in a great cause, though.

Back in town, Dave and I immediately stop at the supermarket.  I am resolved to have but a salad for dinner, to which I will add a can of flavored tuna.  Dave says that he never has made a tuna salad; but he cuts up my veggies anyway, while preparing a concoction of curry-flavored chicken and cabbage for himself.  The salad is delicious, but will the left-over ingredients last another day?

My phone-calling software hassles me for a time over passwords and the like; but it finally lets me call home at nearly 11 p.m., Sacramento time.  My sweetie informs me that all is well excepting one thing: no photos have been posted of me.  Dave resolves to rectify that oversight tomorrow.

---

The sidewalk in the Wanaka city park features a history lesson of sorts with a long series of sponsored flagstones.  Here is the 16th century in a nutshell:

* *

* *

* *

* *

* *

* *

* *

Go Back