Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
4 Moturau Hut to Rainbow Reach
1½-2hr
4 Rainbow Reach to control gates
2½-3½hr
Bookings & Transport
The Kepler is a Great Walk. Between late October and mid-April you must obtain a
Great Walk pass (hut per night $54) for the huts. Passes must be obtained in advance, and
it will pay to book early, either online via DOC's
Great Walks Bookings
( 0800 694
732;
www.greatwalks.co.nz
)
or in person at a DOC visitor centre. In the off-season the huts
revert to backcountry Serviced huts ($15). There are campsites at Brod Bay and near Iris
Burn Hut (Great Walks season $15, out of season free).
The recommended map for this tramp is 1:60,000
Parkmap 335-09 (Kepler Track)
.
Conveniently, the track begins under an hour's walk from the Fiordland National Park
Visitor Centre, via the lakeside track alongside the Manapouri-Te Anau Rd (SH95).
There's a car park and shelter at the control gates.
Tracknet
( 0800 483 262;
www.tracknet.net
)
runs shuttles to the trailhead ($6) and offers secure parking.
Kepler Water Taxi
( 03-249 8364; stevsaunders@xtra.co.nz)
offers early-morning boat
services across Lake Te Anau to Brod Bay ($25), slicing 1½ hours off the first day's
tramp.
Milford Track
The best-known track in NZ and routinely touted as 'the finest walk in the world', the
Milford is an absolute stunner, complete with rainforest, deep glaciated valleys, a glori-
ous alpine pass surrounded by towering peaks, and powerful waterfalls including the le-
gendary Sutherland Falls, one of the loftiest in the world. All these account for its pop-
ularity: more than 14,000 trampers complete the 54km-long track each year.
