Kinloch

Arriving in Kinloch, population 7, I went into the bar/restaurant/office/reception/front room of the Kinloch Lodge and was greeted warmly by an English bloke with a very large plaster on his head. Peter had moved to NZ 6 years ago and had bought the accommodation lodge and a set about renovating it. He had also fallen off his bike thee day before. The small restaurant does very well at weekends and is frequented by those in the know from Queenstown and beyond. No sooner than I had found my room, the bright green Jucy Crib campervan of R+R arrived. Happy hour in the 'bar' was between 5 and 6 so it was Monteiths all round! The free hot tub then beckoned despite the rain.

We had planned to walk the first section of the greenstone track – a well regarded walk through some amazing mountain scenery. however, due to the heavy rain we had during the night the fords on the road to the start of the track were too high to cross. Peter recommended the we drive the other way and take the easy walk around Lake Sylvan. We couldn't quite get to the start of the track due to a windfallen tree, but we parked up and headed on on foot anyway. The walk started by crossing an impressive swing bridge and then through an ancient forest. However, we couldn't get much further. The entire forest floor was under a foot of water. Some flash flood! Back in the car we headed further up the road to the trail head of the Routeburn Track. The new start/end shelter looked just that – new. Seemed a shame though as the track was closed due to the starting swingbridge sustaining some terminal damage due to a wayward tree. Back at the lodge, Peter had baked us muffins for braving the weather. Still feeling underwalked, we took Samson, the golden retriever for a stroll. Back in the warmth of the bar, we had another Montieths.