The Church Restaurant
Not many choices for food in Manapouri, but the hiking as expected is good. The Kiwis’ do like their hamburgers piled high. Not our typical meal, but hiking a lot does make for a good appetite. l estimate I’m going through an extra days worth of calories on the biggest hikes. (25 km, 1800 meters elevation gain- call it 15 miles and 6000 feet for the US folks.)
The Kepler Track
We spent a day on the Kepler Track, the first leg being a very nice, easy walking trail. Later, Tim did another section of the Kepler track, up to the Luxmore huts and back. There is a small cave up by the huts, worth checking out. But bring a good flashlight.
Circle Track
One day we took a water taxi across the river to the start of the circle track. Certainly more challenging for navigation and terrain than the Kepler, but still a fairly easy hike. A GPS is a nice backup, as the trail sometimes changes due to trees being down or other issues, and picking it up again can be challenging.
I wanted to mention the overnight cruises that are available from Manapouri. We did this in 2009 departing from Te Anau. (Not to be confused with Te Anau Downs) We definitely enjoyed our cruise, which had typical misty/rainy weather the first day. We saw dolphins, fished in the evening, and hauled up a lobster from a lobster trap, just as it was being eaten by a large octopus! (Feature photo top)
After staying overnight, we had a clear, sunny day – a very rare event in Doubtful Sound. Although we didn’t do the cruise this time, we highly recommend it.
