The Kepler Track - 68km (42 miles) - four days (we took three) - Great Walk 8/9

Day One: Our penultimate Great Walk - great to be able to share the experience with Justin! The first day was a fairly tough up-hill slog with some interesting beech forest and limestone rock formations along the way. 

The long grind was worth it as we emerged above the tree line to be greeted with fantastic panoramic views across Lake Te Anau, the largest body of freshwater in Australasia. What a superb location to spend our first night, we've stayed in a lot of NZ huts, this one was the most happily situated of all.

After a quick break we decided to make the most of the clear weather and head up the track a little further to admire the views from the summit of Mt Luxmore...

... the definition of 'a little further' turned out to be an 8km round trip, however with just the three of us on top the sight was beyond impressive. What a privilege!

We observed the track below us winding up across the tussock grasses and along the rocky shoulder, it was steep in places so we needed to head back down before night fall.

The Kepler Mountain range stretches off into the horizon but their roots lie deep in the south fiord of Lake Te Anau. From this height the forest seems like a green carpet enveloping the mountainside down to the water's edge.

We reached the hut just in time for dinner (dehydrated curry - yum!). The light outside painted the clouds at the end of a awesome day.

Day Two: We started our day on top of the world with another of nature's light shows.This time it spelled low cloud and limited views :-( We were pretty chuffed to have made the effort last night.

However as the morning wore on the wind came to our aid and the incredible landscape emerged from beneath it's blanket.

As Dave tried to keep pace with Mel and Justin, the blue sky poked through and our adventure above the clouds continued...

The Kepler Track is a high alpine circuit that maintains elevation by picking its way along the many ridge lines, providing stunning high country panoramas.

Looking out before we dropped into the valley for the night we could see far into the distance, including the glass-like sheen of Lake Manapouri.

Day Three: The Fiordland wet weather finally caught up with us and we decided to blast out the final two days of the walk in one epic journey. 32km of trail led us back to the van and three weary trampers headed for a shower and a glass of wine... very well deserved!