South Island New Zealand Routeburn Track: The Divide to The Shelter in 3 Days
Walking past stunning waterfalls, amazing snow peak mountains, diamond shining lakes and enchanted forests, the Routeburn track is hands down the most beautiful multi-day trek I have ever done.
The Routeburn track is a one way 32km South New Zealand multi-day trek. It is within the stunning Fiordland & Mount Aspiring National Parks.
There are 3 popular multi-day treks in this area of New Zealand. These are the Routeburn, Milford and Kepler Track. The Milford trek is normally the most popular. This is due to its connection with Milford Sounds. It usually sells out quite fast. Both the Milford and Kepler treks are 4 days long, and the Routeburn is 3 days. This was one of the reasons we chose it. We were in South New Zealand on holiday. We still had many more areas we wanted to visit. However, for the pure beauty and variety of the trek, we are very glad with our decision.
The trek can be walked either way. The more popular way to walk the Routeburn track is from Glenorchy (Routeburn Shelter) to the Divide. However, we did it the other way, starting at the Divide and finishing at Routeburn Shelter. We did this so we could fit in a visit to Milford Sounds on day 1 of the trek. Keep reading for information on how to fit this in.
Everything you need to know about the Routeburn Track
When planning our Routeburn track, we wanted to make the most of going all the way to the divide. So we decided to do a Milford Sound Cruise before starting the trek. This made very good use of time. I would only recommend doing this in the summer months. You need daylight until late. Summer in South NZ is light until 10pm!
- Day 1: Milford Sound Cruise and walk from the Divide –> Lake Mackenzie Hut
- Day 2: Lake Mackenzie Hut –> Routeburn Falls hut
- Day 3: Routeburn Falls –> Routeburn Shelter
If you’re anything like me, I do tonnes of research. I read loads of reviews on coaches, times the trek takes, and whether there will still be bunk beds if we arrive late. Therefore I will provide all information I have in case it’s useful for someone else who, like me, likes the details!
The Routeburn track is not a round route, it is one way. Therefore you cannot drive and pick your car up from the same place. This then leaves you options to either:
- Get a coach to a drop off and pick up point or
- Use a company that moves your car for you from the start to the end of the trail.
We chose to get the coach, as we didn’t start to rent a car until day 6 of our holiday.
You can either start at the Routeburn shelter and walk to The divide. Or you can do it the other way. As we wanted to do Milford sound first, and this is close to the divide, we did The divide to Routeburn shelter. We chose to do it in 3 days / 2 nights.
Booking the huts
It is mandatory to have booked the huts in advance. We booked 7 months in advance. We knew January would be popular. Book as soon as you know you will be doing the trek. All can be purchased on the official site doc.govt.nz.
By booking the huts, this is almost like your ‘licence’ for doing the trek. They don’t want it to be overcrowded. You must get a stamp a day before you start the trek. You can either do this at the DOC at Queenstown or Te Anu. We did this in Queenstown a day before we started the trek. However, it would have been possible to do in Te Anu as our coach made a stop here.
It is important to know you cannot book a bed, you literally have to turn up and find a space. They do not allow the huts to be over-crowded. There will never be a case where there is no space left. My partner was not looking forward to the bed situation. He likes his home comforts and not sleeping next to strangers. But even he ended up loving it as part of the experience.
Luggage
All we took were our rucksacks. We left the rest of our stuff in the QT hotel. That is where we were staying at when we return to Queenstown. If you are on a long holiday in New Zealand, I would highly recommend doing this. You do not want to be carrying around extra weight in your bag. You will be trekking with it for 3 days. Your backpack should not weigh more than 7 kg.
We had suitcases that our rucksacks were stored in during our flight to New Zealand, and this worked out very well for our entire holiday.
Transport
We booked through tracknet.net which is the official site of the coaches. I would recommend emailing them at res@tracknet.net with your dates and times, then they will send over the form to fill out. We booked this 2 months in advance. Note they will not do hotel pick up, but the pick up location is very central in Queenstown. Their site is generally very useful.
- Day 1 morning: Queenstown to Milford Sound: 6:55am. (5 hour journey)
- Day 1 midday: 2 hour Milford Sound Cruise (operated by Go Orange Cruises): 12:30pm
- Day 1 afternoon: Milford Sound to The Divide: 2:30pm (1 hour journey) Walk the Routeburn Track.
- Day 3: Routeburn Shelter to Queenstown: 10:00am or 2:00pm. (2 hour journey, we made it for the 10am one)
The cost of this in total (including cruise) was 199 NZD per person (2019). We were told there was no place to buy lunch. So, we added a packed lunch for 19 NZD per person. In the end we did see some snacks being sold on the cruise. The other choice would have been to take a packed lunch.
Conveniently we were told we could leave our backpacks on the bus while we did the Milford Sound Cruise. It was the exact same bus that was taking us to The Divide. This helped a lot.
Day 1 Routeburn Trek: Milford Sound Cruise + The Divide to Lake Mackenzie Hut
On Day 1 of the trek, we got picked up at 6:30 am. The pick-up was from a point in Queenstown City Centre. We stayed on the coach all the way to Milford sounds. The bus stops at the Te Anu stop. You can get your official Routeburn stamp here at the DOC office. We had already got our stamps in Queenstown the day before. We didn’t need to do anything here apart from a quick toilet stop.
The bus actually also goes past The Divide. We knew we’d start the trek there later in the day. A few people got off. the bus at that time to start the trek. This made me a little nervous about finding a bed, but future-me knows there was nothing to worry about.
We got to Milford Sounds at around midday, and took the cruise – what a beautiful spot in the world!! The whole bus journey was extremely scenic also. While you are in the area, it is vital you do not miss Milford Sounds. It is labelled the 8th Wonder of the Natural world and for good reason. Doing it before you start the trek is an extremely convenient way to fit it into your New Zealand Itinerary.
The same bus then took us back to the divide and we started the trek at around 3:30pm.
This day was insane, from walking on the edge of mountains with endless views of snow capped mountains. Walking past stunning Lake Howden, and walking almost through the most incredible waterfall I have ever seen in my life… wow.
This day trek took us about 4 hours of walking. This included a 30-minute break at the area around Howden hut. We arrived at Lake Mackenzie hut at 8pm.
Lake Mackenzie huts are very well maintained and quite a few different dorms which are in different buildings. The sleeping bed are long plastic mattresses on bunks. It is important to that you have your own sleeping bag with you and something for a pillow. Even for those people who like their luxury, this is not a bad situation for just one night. A few of the dorms were already full, but we managed to find a dorm with plenty of space. We managed to get the end of one of the long mattresses so there was no one on one of the sides. The other person was about 2 metres away on the other side.
The kitchen facilities were good, we only needed to use the stove as we took our own travel pan and freeze dried meals.
Day 2 Routeburn Track: Lake Mackenzie hut to Routeburn falls hut
Waking up at this beautiful lake and having a morning coffee was a very memorable experience. There is something about waking up in nature. Doing a trek with just a backpack always feels raw and fantastic being in the wilderness.
Today’s walk started through a beautiful moss covered enchanted forest. Then shortly followed by a stunning view of a gorge on one side, and snow capped mountains on the other.
This part of the trek then allows you to walk above the clouds, how amazing.
Side trip to Conical hill (1-2 hours)
On day 2 there is an optional side track to Conical Hill which will take an additional 1-2 hours. This will take you to very lord of the rings stunning mountains. There is a small scramble at the end, and if it had been raining may be quite slipping.
Arriving at Routeburn Falls Hut
Day 2 took around 8 hours including the Conical hill side track, and with stops and photos. We arrived at a beautiful waterfall at around 3:30pm and had a nice rest.
Routeburn falls hut was pretty spectacular. I was quite sure these huts would feel like ‘slumming it’. In reality where else can you stay in accomodation with views this stunning. Also these sets of huts felt very clean and great facilities.
Unlike the Lake Mackenzie huts which had long shared mattresses, the Routeburn falls hut had single bunk beds. The rucksacks nicely fit under the bottom bunk, so if you are in a 2 then you can take one side of the bunk beds.
After watching the sunset from the hut balcony we cooked our freeze dried Back Country Cuisine food. This evening we had bought a dried ice cream also). We did notice a few people had bought a small flask with some liquor in. We noted this as a great idea for next time.
Day 3 Routeburn Track: Routeburn Falls Hut to Routeburn Shelter
The final day of the trek, we were feeling slightly tired but energised by the excitement of the trek. Getting up at 6am so that we could make the 10am coach, we had our breakfast and coffee and left before most people were awake.
This day took us through forests, over swing bridges and through fields. Another beautiful day. The morning fresh air and smell of trees was wonderful.
We passed the Routeburn flats hut, stopping for some water and a snack. We made it to Routeburn shelter by 9:30am. Perfect timing to be picked up at 10am. Everyone fell asleep on the coach from tiredness. I opened my eyes at one point and saw the absolute beauty of the Glenorchy mountains, making a note that we need to visit there one day, before falling asleep again.
The Routeburn track gave us everything we wanted from a multi-day trek. We were very lucky with the weather, having not rained at all in the 3 days. We didn’t see that many people while on the trek, only now and then. This meant most of the time it felt like we had the track to ourselves.
Now we are dreaming of the next multi-day trek we can do in the beautiful wilderness. As well as cherishing these memories for our life.
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