Day 225 Tuesday, March 15th. One week to go!

Now, of course, after eight months we are getting very excited to be home and to see our three girls. But we are still trying to enjoy every last minute of this trip and New Zealand is making that easy.
After a large breakfast of bacon, eggs and toast at the camper van we set off for a long mountain hike, one that Lonely Planet rates as “#10 in the world’s top ten best hikes”. We drove to the trail head for the Routeburn Track and started off with our day pack. We made it up to Hut One where the overnighters on their multi-day hikes take a break. These “Huts” have bedrooms with bunk beds (this one had about 24 beds in two rooms); a common room with a woodburning stove and washing lines above it; flush toilets; cold water wash basins and then some propane stove tops for cooking. No hot water and no showers though-the ice cold river is near bye. We stop for an apple and granola bar each but then hike on. It’s steep, tough hiking over broken rock paths and through the rain forest. Everything is dripping wet in the forests but there is no sign of any wildlife at all. This is such a change for us after Australia where the wildlife is amazing. New Zealand didn’t have any mammals until Captain Cook’s mice and rats ran ashore. Then rabbits were introduced and, later, stoats from the UK to control the rabbits. The stoats ate the birds eggs. I was told today that NZ has 12% of the world’s endangered species of birds. We see and hear very few birds and there is no rustling of little feet in the undergrowth as you walk along. It’s so quiet it’s unnerving and spooky and I miss the noise and interest of looking for wildlife. Plenty of sheep to look down in the valleys below-they were introduced about 100 years ago.
We don’t quite make it to the 2nd hut before turning back as planned and hiking down. The round trip today was about 18km and an elevation climb of about 4,000’. We are sore, we hiked for almost six hours. We decide to drive down to the comforts of Queensland for the night and stay at a campsite near the town. The drive down from Glenorchy to Queenstown alongside Lake Wakatipu must be one of the most beautiful in the world.
We go into town for a beer before dinner and then head to a local French Restaurant and pork up again on New Zealand Lamb in gravy with mashed potatoes and carrots and a glass of NZ Pinot.
A great day. We head for Mount Cook soon.