Day 12 started with this lovely sight just outside our bungalow. I mean isn’t that beautiful?
The weather was a little raining but we had come prepared for that. It is worth mentioning that the temperature difference between Matamata and Te Anau was easily 10 degrees Celcius down! But we didn’t care!
So we made some sandwiches and got ready to do some hiking.
We drove to the Kepler Gates just outside Te Anau and started out little walk in the drizzle.
Facts: Unlike many other multi-day walks, which evolved from Maori greenstone trails or pioneer exploration routes, the Kepler Track was custom-made – built for pleasure, rather than necessity.
The trail opened in 1988 and was carefully planned to show walkers all the best features of Fiordland – moss-draped beech forest, prolific birdlife, tussock high country, huge mountain ranges, cascading waterfalls, vast glacier-carved valleys, luxuriant river flats and limestone formations. The track’s construction makes for easier walking. Most streams are bridged, boardwalks cover boggy areas and the very steep sections have steps. Walk the Kepler and you’ll see everything that’s marvellous about this exquisite corner of the world.
The entire circle can take around 4 days to complete and there are Hut facilities and composites through the trail to make the journey as enjoyable as possible.
However, we do like our hotel bed and hot shower so we didn’t plan to do the full trail, just a part of it 3-4 hours walking simply to get a feeling of it and enjoy the sceneries. And we still thoroughly enjoyed it! The trail direction we took was along the river and you could hear the water running cutting through the silence and peace of the forest.
On our way back we found this little guy on the trail just looking at it. It didn’t look scared and we actually manage to get quite close to it. It was soo sweet.
While, I was researching things to do around Te Anau I discover that the scene in the Lord of the Rings where Arwen cast the spell at the river Adhuin was shoot close by. So we when to search for it.
We drove to the Raimbo Reach Road with once again joins the Kepler Trail. We cross the bridge and walk around to see if we could find the spot. I saw a curve in the river that could potentially be the spot. See the photo below.
We follow the trail but it didn’t look like we were getting close to the spot. So we when back to the car and follow google maps, yes the spot in actually on google maps.
Until we arrive at where the GPS told us, we got off the car and into the bushes to try to find the spot. And we did!
There is a rope do go down to the river’s level but I wasn’t keen on spending the rest of my holidays with a broken leg so I took photos from higher ground.
After ticking this off the list, we made our way back to Te Anau where we sat at a small cafe for a nice hot coffee and enjoyed the view of the lake
So this was day 12, nice and calm, just us and nature.
What a lovely rainbow Natacha 🙂 stay safe and greetings from Portugal, PedroL
Thank you 🙂