We didn’t want to walk on the hammered tracks of the tourist routes.  Green boardwalk and admonishing signs.  We wanted to find a mountain and climb it.  One of the sons at the camp told us about this area, 30 km south of Manapouri, and, with the aid of a map copied from the display board, we had a good day out among stunning peaks.

Way out of the area where all the main tracks are – Routeburn etc – is Borland Road, leading to a power station.  Off this road are a few tracks, of which we climbed two.

Mt Burns is at about 5,000 ft, a delightful climb through beech forest above the treeline to a stunning view of the Southern Alps.  We were tempted to continue up the ridge to the peaks, but didn’t have any gear so unfortunately had to go back.