Kainas wrote:We are doing the Routeburn, Hollyford and Kepler in December. I was hoping to hear from anyone who has been in the area around that time of year. Is it cold? Warm?
I don't want to arrive fresh from Queensland in my shorts to discover I am digging for my long pants as soon as we leave the plane.
Obviously I will check the weather reports...but I was also hoping to hear from an Australian (Queenslander even) who can give me a rough idea. I mean, you would think being in Queensland that I would be wearing shorts this time of year...but jeans and a jumper today! In fact I haven't yet transitioned from jeans to shorts this year...still too cold.
I walked the Holyford Track in December 1972 and being a Queenslander wore my shorts for the entire trip. Arrived at the start of the Hollyford Valley in fine weather to be told that there had been a record dry of three weeks of no rain, and rain predicted from that night! Spent the next three days walking in the rain in my black japara oilskin, with limited visibility of the mountain scenery (the waterfalls were great), having the hairs on my legs above the gaiters and below the shorts torn out by some feindish NZ native grass
that has seeds that hook onto animal/human hairs and only break off just before the hair pulls out by its roots
All the huts had clothes drying rooms, as well as drying rails above the wood heaters - a further indication of the usual weather conditions. As a Queenslander in Southland NZ my other strong memory is of the preceeding warm sunny day in Queenstown, with locals and tourists sunning themselves on the beach of lake Te Anau, and me wondering why there was no one in the water. A VERY short wade in freshly melted ice water gave me the answer
PS DON'T FORGET THE SANDFLY REPELLANT!