Queenstown & The Routeburn Tramp

After arriving into Queenstown we spent a few days exploring the city and preparing for the Routeburn Tramp. Although, it's a little touristy for our liking, the more time we spent in Queenstown, the more we enjoyed it. The city is set in the middle of some beautiful scenery, with the Remarkables Mountain Range and Lake Wakatipu right at the edge of town. Queenstown is known as the "Adventure Capital of the World", offering just about any extreme sport you can imagine, from bungy jumping to river surfing and everything in between...all coming with a hefty price tag. After going back and forth for a day, Rachel built up the courage to go bungy jumping...unfortunately, there were no openings before our departure to the Routeburn. (Don't worry we will go before we leave NZ-keep the positive vibes coming).

Queenstown at night:As sad as it is, one of our favorite parts of Queenstown was the amazing Fergburger. We know you can get great burgers back in the U.S and it's crazy to travel halfway around the world for a hamburger, but the burgers at Fergburger were OUTSTANDING. Check out the pictures for details (vegetarians may want to skip them), but this place rivals Chipotle for cheap, quality, filling meals, and everyone knows how much we enjoy Chipotle. Just don't ask how many times we ate there during our three days in Queenstown.

On to the Routeburn...

After fueling up at Fergburger we caught our 12:15pm departure for the Routeburn Trailhead. We arrived at the trailhead, along with a few other anxious trampers, and began our trek in. Knowing we had a very short hike to our first camp - 2hrs - we took our time and really enjoyed the beautiful surroundings. Our campsite for the night was situated along the river - from the tent you could see snow-capped mountains and glaciers. We awoke the next morning, Valentine's Day, to frost on the tent and ground. After wolfing down a granola bar & apple we got an early start. After 3 hours of straight climbing we reached the Harris Saddle day shelter. From here, we ditched our packs and climbed to the summit for some amazing views through Hollyford Valley all the way to the Tasman Sea. After lunch we continued on to our next destination, Mackenzie Lake, to set up camp. We enjoyed our V-Day by hiking 7 hours in some incredible scenery that rivals anything in Yosemite. While camped at Mackenzie Lake we met a few other travelers taking their "gap year". Two from Germany, one from Israel, and one from the U.S (the first we've met from the States that is on an extended trip). Since we didn't bring a stove, our Valentine's Day dinner consisted of beef jerky, salami, cheese, crackers, canned tuna, and peanuts. Dustin thinks this should be a V-Day tradition, Rachel isn't convinced...

Day 3: We made our way from Lake Mackenzie to another peak to catch glimpses of Lake Marian-when the clouds parted. A few more hours of downhill hiking and we were done with the trek. Including the side trips up the peaks, we hiked about 23 miles, nothing too intense, but a fun 3-day tramp.

Having to reserve our spot weeks ahead of time, we were a little worried about the weather. We had heard stories of people hiking through three days of rain and seeing nothing but clouds and fog. On this tramp, we finally lucked out and couldn't have asked for better weather...not a drop of rain during the entire trek. The first two days we had cloudless skies and the third was partly cloudy...perfect trekking conditions.

After one last Fergburger to celebrate our completion of the trek, we're on our way out of Queenstown headed up the West Coast in search of some surf. Having been away from the ocean for awhile now, we are anxious to get back in the water and find some waves.