Kepler Track Circuit, Fiordland

Fiordland National Park, South Island · New Zealand

Moderate4 daysOceania~£320 est.

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Overview

The Kepler was purpose-built in 1988 to show off everything Fiordland does, and it delivers in a single 60km loop from the lakeshore at Te Anau. Day two is the one you will replay for years: from Luxmore Hut you walk a bare tussock ridgeline for hours, Lake Te Anau a sheet of hammered silver a kilometre below on one side, the Murchison Mountains — last refuge of the takahē — on the other. Kea patrol the emergency shelters; do not turn your back on your lunch. The alpine crossing is gloriously exposed, and that is also the catch: in a norwester the ridge is no place to be, and parties regularly sit out a day at Luxmore waiting for the cloud to lift. Book the Great Walks season huts the day DOC releases them; Luxmore's 54 bunks vanish first. The caves ten minutes from the hut are worth packing a head torch for. It is a true local loop — you can walk from Te Anau township or trim the lake sections with the Brod Bay water taxi. Four days, three huts, no shuttle logistics. Roughly £320 including hut fees and a celebratory Te Anau dinner.