Kepler Track

Carol and Roger left the southern tip of New Zealand’s South Island and headed north towards the mountains.

We were worried about the weather since the mountains were socked in with dense clouds.

We were bound for the Kepler Track, one of New Zealand’s more famous “tramps” or hikes.  Kepler is a 60 km three-day loop that includes several mountain passes requiring alpine experience and equipment, neither of which we had.  

So we opted for a 10 km flat-land portion of it. 

Unlike the back-country of the islands and coastal forests we’d visited before, these valley forests are dominated by beech trees, some of them hundreds of years old.  The thick forest in the lowlands blocked the broad mountain vistas we had hoped for.  Still, there were plenty of new things to see.

Pied Shag