The Kepler Track is a circular track starting and ending at the Control Gates and can be walked in both directions. It takes only an hour to walk from the center of Te Anau to the Kepler Track car park or 10 minutes on the bus shuttle. The third alternative is to use a local water taxi. For us, having walked to the Control Gates previously, the best option was to use the Tracknet shuttle. In the morning we were picked up from our motel in Te Anau where we stayed for a few days after finishing the Milford track to recover and prepare for the next walk. The weather forecast was threatening rain for the next few days. On our very short bus trip, we met a father with three young sons who just finished walking Milford and Routeburn tracks. A very impressive achievement! We saw them later that day on the track looking very fresh and enjoying the uphill walk.
Day 01
The track to Luxmore Hut starts just after the Control Gates, which regulate water flows between Lake Te Anau and Lake Manapouri for the West Arm hydroelectric power station. For the first 90 minutes, it runs along the lake through the red beech trees until it reaches the Brod Bay campsite. The place looked like a perfect swimming spot but we decided to give it a miss and continue our walk. From Brod Bay, the track turns left and we spent the next 3:30 hrs on a steady climb to the limestone bluffs. From one perspective, the 3:30 hrs seems to be a long time to climb, but in reality, it was not too difficult or tiring. Once we passed the bush line we were awarded the panoramic views of Te Anau lake and town, Takitimu Mountains, Snowdon Mountains and Earl Mountains. From there a 45 minutes stroll took us to Luxmore Hut. After securing bottom bunks and a nice cup of tea we went for a short walk to Luxmore Cave to see its stalactites and stalagmites getting back as it started to rain.
Day 02
The second day started, as one could expect, with cheeky kea checking what was happening inside the hut in
the morning. It was still misty when we started making our way toward Mount Luxmore. It took us almost an
hour to ascend to the summit track and another 10 minutes to reach Mount Luxmore peak (1472 meters).
A word of warning. Do not leave your packs unattended. Keas will damage them trying to get to your
supplies.
From the summit, the track runs down toward the Forest Burn Saddle. The hazy weather prevented us from
enjoying the 360 degrees panoramic views across the fiord of Lake Te Anau to the Murchison Mountains, but we
got plenty of spectacular views framed in magical clouds. From the Forest Burn Shelter the track zig-zags
across the ridges to Hanging Valley Shelter and from there runs down to Iris Burn Hut. The last signpost on
the ridges told us that we were 2:30 hrs away from our destination. Unfortunately, this was an underestimate
for us and others we spoke to. It took us an extra hour to reach the hut. It was a long day and with rain on
the way we decided not to go to the Iris Burn Falls. Fiona walked to the river to cool her feet and got back
to the hut just before the rain. Other groups who had started walking later got very wet in the heavy rain.
Day 03
The walk from Iris Burn Hut to Moturau was a nice, mostly flat walk along the river with surrounding valley views. There were just two significant points of interest: the Big Slip, a colossal natural landslide that occurred in January 1984, during heavy rains and Rocky Point Shelter. Our entertainment for the day was to count the pest control markers. Five markers to a kilometer. 85 markers in total. The warden at Iris Burn had given us a tip re which number was just before Moturau Hut so they were useful to monitor our progress. The Moturau Hut may not be the most modern hut but its location is superb. It faces Lake Manapouri's Shallow Bay, a fantastic swimming spot. I could not resist its beauty. I had to take a dip, even though hundreds of hungry sandflies were waiting for my flesh. Luckily, they can not get you while you are under the water. Some walkers continued onto Rainbow Reach rather than stay another night here.
Day 04
Many of the walkers exit the Kepler Track at Rainbow Reach near the swing bridge and catch a bus to Te Anau. We decided to do the full track and finish at the Control Gates. The track is an easy stroll that follows the Waiau River. It is quite a pretty walk. We came across a few day walkers coming from the opposite direction, some of them were surprised to see us with our backpacks still looking happy after four days of walking. Our transport back to town was scheduled to pick us up from the car park around 3 o'clock. Fortunately, Fiona was able to get in touch with Tracknet, while still on the path, and they were able to change the pickup for 1 o'clock. Thank you Tracknet, excellent service.
