The Kepler Track circles the mountainside above Manapouri Lake and is a perfect place for us to spend at least a bit of time on one of the famed Great walks. The full journey is 3 or 4 days walk with overnights in huts or campsites along the way. We settle for a day hike a little over 4 miles out to the first hut on Shallow Bay. It is a great start on a swinging bridge over the Waiau River. Switch backs carry us up into the lush forest where footfall sound alternately a hollow echo or no sound at all as we move across soil built of sphagnum moss and ages of fallen vegetation. Another suspension bridge, a balance testing log crossing over bog, a boardwalk view of a quiet bog-land pool, the beach front on the north end of lake Manapouri. It is a nice walk with very light traffic at first, growing a bit as we go into early afternoon. The Hut at Shallow Bay is decidedly unimpressive. Check out the pics. Still, probably a pleasant sight if you’d been walking all day with a heavy pack in foul weather. We head back to our cozy little campervan.