The Kepler track is one of New Zealand’s Great Walks and is situated in Te Anau on the South Island. Te Anau is a beautiful lake town with gorgeous mountain views. There’s plenty of scenery to admire before you even set foot on the track.
Te Anau doesn’t have its own airport so if you’re travelling, you’ll either need to drive or fly into Queenstown or Dunedin (closest airports). From there you can catch a shuttle, bus or rent a car. Shuttles and buses aren’t regular so unless you’re ok starting the first day late you might want to consider booking accommodation in Te Anau on each side of your hiking days too.
The Kepler is a loop track, so you can choose to walk it in either direction. Most people tend to walk anti-clockwise so that the biggest incline days are at the beginning when your legs are still fresh. I hiked it in this direction, so that’ll be the order of this post.
Hiking from the Kepler track carpark to Luxmore Hut
Day one is a reasonably big day and is mainly bush walk. The track until the campsite is mostly flat and then a steady incline until you get past the ridge line.
As you get higher, there are some pretty nice views every now and then through the trees. Then once you break through, you’re treated with the full view of it all, given you’re lucky with the weather. This is also where the incline steadies off a bit… and then you’re at the first hut!
The huts on the Kepler are some of the nicer huts on the Great Walks. The main privilege being flush toilets within the huts, which is very uncommon! One thing to note though, is that there are no toilet bins (or bins in general) so any wipes or sanatary products, you do still need to pack those out with you. There are also some gas stove tops and kettles available to use in the main kitchen area.
Luxmore hut has some of the best views and is probably my favourite I’ve stayed in because of this. If you’re lucky enough to get low cloud cover, definitely wake up early for sunrise. I wasn’t so lucky on my trip but I’d love to return for another chance to view the sunrise here.
There is also a small side track from Luxmore hut (roughly 20min each way) to a cave. The recommendation is to take two torches per person in case of failure, it’s dark down there and would be hard to get out without a backup light.
Hiking from Luxmore hut to Iris Burn hut & campsite
This section of the track is estimated at 5-6 hours but I would definitely allow more time than this. From the elevation map, this section looks like a similar difficulty, if not easier than the previous day but with the extra 6.4km plus not only a lot of incline but a steep decline too, this is for sure the most difficult day on the track. The good news is, this is the day with the most breathtaking views. Try and take in as much of it as you can.
You start the day with immidiete incline. The track zig-zags and curls up the mountain so you get fresh views at every turn.
At the peak, there’s a small 10-minute side track up to the Mount Luxmore summit. It’s quite steep and unstable but you’ll want to take your pack with you as unattended packs are free game for the local Kea and they will find your food and know how to unzip bags! If you’re with a group, you can take turns going up and staying with the packs.
The next part from the summit has a lot of rolling incline and decline. This helps with muscle fatigue, but it’s a very long section.
When you get to the steps down, this is the beginning of the full descent. Once you get to the tree cover, that’s the last of the mountain views, so make sure you take it in before you head down.
The section of downhill in tree cover feels like it continues for ages (most likely because it’s already been a big day). The warden at Luxmore hut warned us this sign was incorrect so don’t get your hopes up. Instead of 1.5 hours it’s more like 2-2.5 hours. There was one guy who didn’t like being told 1.5 hours was impossible, and he ended up just making it within the time, but it sounds like he ran parts of it.
From Iris Burn hut, there’s a short side track to Iris Burn waterfall, which takes about 30-40 minutes return.
Hiking from Iris Burn hut to Moturau hut
The track to Moturau hut is a lot more chill than the previous section. There are still some small hills but it’s mostly flat and although it’s 1.6 km longer than the previous day, it feels a lot more manageable. The time estimate is also more accurate on this section.
As this hut is lower in altitude, more sand-flies are around so make sure you have plenty of bug spray and make sure to keep the windows and doors of the huts closed.
Hiking from Moturau hut to the Kepler track carpark
The last section is mostly flat and with similar landscape views as the previous day, although there is a river leading up to the dam that you walk alongside towards the end. A lot of people finish the hike at Rainbow Reach carpark because of this but the loop completes officially at the Kepler track carpark.
All in all, the Kepler track is a highly rewarding track and definitely one for the mountain lovers out there. My biggest highlight was the evening at Luxmore hut. The views were incredible, hanging out with Kea was surreal, and my legs were still relatively fresh. If you’ve taken on the Kepler track, let me know which part was your favourite!
Check out my other posts on the other New Zealand Great Walks!
