12/31 2pm. My partner picked me up at the cruise terminal of Milford Sound. A lot of tourists here, despite of the weather. Maybe cruise company desks. Big washroom to clean up (to the dismay of the cleaning lady). 
The rain had tapered off a bit. The drive to the Divide (the west end trailhead of Routeburn Track) is spectacular. The most impressive is at the carpark at the south end of the tunnel. A dozen tall waterfalls drape over an amphitheater-like vertical rock wall. Keas in parking lot, 2 of them hiding under our rental car. Forecast is heavy rain tonight, less rain tomorrow. We decided to continue our plan: hike to Lake McKenzie for the night.Routeburn Track
Day 1, drizzle. Started hiking around 3:30pm. I made a mistake of continuing the hike in sandals. A lot more elevation and the trail is rugged. In the woods most of the time. Lake Howden Hut is about an hour in (a little over 2 miles). Due to the weather, we ignored the side trail to West Summit. Earland Falls is big and up close. Hard to take a photo without getting seriously sprayed upon. The Orchard area is open, but too misty to see beyond the slope we are walking on. Lots of mossy trees. 
The trail then descends steeply to Lake McKenzie valley. The guided walk lodge sits in a meadow, handsomely lit when we walked by.
Lake McKenzie Hut sits 12Km from the Divide TH. That's 30Km for me today (in the rain, with sandals). The camping area (only 9 people allowed) is about 7 minutes walk further. There are 2 bunk houses, one above the kitchen, one standalone. A separate toilet house. None has a view of the lake, even though it's just right there. No screen doors here. Still some flies. The kitchen is not as clean as on Milford Track. Larger. More people. My bunk is #56. An Israeli party with lots of kids running around. Some were carried in. A fireplace hissing, with wet boots and clothes crowded around. I was washing my feet when the ranger came by and told me he was going to give a hut talk (at 8pm). He talked for a long time, asking donation for the trapping box for rat and stout. Had to wait for him to finish before cooking. Very hungry. We had two little bottles of sparkling wine to celebrate the new year's eve. The kitchen has some holiday decoration, and the ranger agreed to keep the lights on till past midnight. I didn't wait for the new year: tired.
Day 2, New Year in the rain. Storm overnight, so loud, it woke me up. Cleared around 4am. I was quite dispirited in the morning with the updated weather forecast at 8am: not getting any better. We'll be missing the best views of Routeburn Track. Drizzle when we started hiking. 
Up to the bend where you are supposed to see Hollyford Valley and Tasman Sea beyond. Couldn't see a thing. Windy. Turned back. Had lunch back at the hut. Only one lady here. Visited the camping area, next to the lake. Better view here. Each site has a platform. But close to each other. There's a hut with sink and running water. Hiking out. Earland Falls was bigger, and we should have taken the lower detour. Got poured on. Back to the Divide carpark shortly before 3pm.Fjordland highway 94 goes along a river valley with many lupines and camping spots (paid). Soon rainy forested mountains gave away to drier grazing land. By the time we reached Te Anau, the sky cleared up. Had another hot pie. This time lamb and mint. Pretty tasty as before. This concludes the hikes I planned 7 months ago. I felt much better leaving the rain.
Will have to come back to Routeburn when it's not rainy, and maybe hike Kepler Track too, as my buddy did while I was on Milford Track (see photo on the right). The photos of the ridge look very enticing. More ridge walk and expanded view than on Milford Track (only at McKinnen Pass). It's also the hardest of these 3 Great Walks in the Fjordland, especially if you camp: the two campsites require walking for ~14 mile the 2nd (with all elevation gain and loss) and 19 mile the 3rd day (if not taking a NZ$14 - 10 min shuttle from Rainbow Reach carpark at 3pm, 4pm and 5pm). It's logistically the easiest: a loop. The two THs of Routeburn is 3+ hours by car.
