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Published: July 29th 2010
December 3, 2009 Today was purely a day of hitchhiking, and after a rough start, we got even further towards Milford than we had hoped for. The first ride out of Christchurch took about and hour and a half to get. This was followed by much more waiting, several very short lifts, and us being still a long way from our goal with it being well into the late afternoon. At around 3:30pm, we found ourselves in the middle of absolutely nowhere on a road with almost no traffic. We had chosen a bad route to hitch over. Barely one car came every ten minutes. We were already assuming the worst; that we’d be stuck out here and end up sleeping in a farm field in our tent. That would mean even getting to Milford on time to start the track would be questionable. But then we got the lift we needed, and the guy who took us decided to take us 20 minutes out of his way just so that we’d be in a better spot to catch another ride. This was appreciated very much. From that spot, we waited half an hour until we got the final and
longest ride of the day. A young guy going to visit his girlfriend in Queenstown said he’d take us all the way there. So three hours later, we arrived in Queenstown and were dropped at a holiday park where friends of Geoff and Lynne are the managers.
We only meant to store our tent with them, but were overcome by kindness and friendliness when they insisted that we spent the night and have dinner and breakfast with them. So we accepted, and spent the night in our own two-bedroom condo in Queenstown, free of charge. This was incredibly generous of Ross and Kathleen, as similar accommodation would have cost us well into the several hundred-dollar range in a fast-paced town like this. Things seem to be going very well for us and we are yet again meeting great people on our journey. Today was also a record for most hitchhiking rides in a day - nine different cars took us over seven hours of driving!
December 4, 2009 Whereas yesterday took us nine rides to get to Queenstown, today only took us one ride to get the remaining two and a half hours to Te Anau, near where
the Milford Track starts. We waited for exactly one hour before a woman named Sonia, a traveler from the United Kingdom, stopped and took us exactly where we needed to get.
So with the rest of the day to kill, we spent a leisurely afternoon in the sleepy town of Te Anau and enjoyed the sunshine, which has finally returned. Tomorrow we’ll start the Milford Track- reputed to be one of the greatest walks in the entire world.
December 5, 2009 The plan to get to the start of the Milford was simple: hitchhike the 15 miles from town to Lake Te Anau, and get on the boat to take the hour journey to the start of the trail at the head of the lake. I’d reserved two spots on the 2pm boat since I was unsure how long it would take to get there by hitchhiking, and was beginning to worry about getting to the boat dock too early and having to deal with the pesky sandflies for several hours. We got a ride very quickly, too quickly I thought, and I was slightly unhappy that we would in fact be waiting at the boat dock for
three hours. Everything turned out all right, though, when we arrived at 10:25 and were allowed on the 10:30 departure.
When the boat dropped us off, we began our walking on the “World’s finest walk” as it’s dubbed. It would be a very short day, though, as it was only an hour and a half to the first hut, situated close to the start to prepare walkers for the longer three days ahead of them.
The trail meandered along the Clinton River through lush green forest with the towering U-shaped Fiordland valleys already drawing us into them. The beauty of the early stage of this walk seems to promise even better scenery as we climb higher towards McKinnon Pass.
With this being another “Great Walk,” the hut is full and there is quite a range of people from many backgrounds, countries of origin, and outdoors experience. It’s nice to have such a mix of people because it makes conversations more interesting than just the standard tramping conversations we seem to have a lot. After this track, we’ll be on more remote ones, so I will enjoy the company while we have it.
December 6, 2009 The rain stopped
minutes before we departed from the hut this morning, giving us perfect conditions to travel through the Clinton Valley towards the McKinnon Saddle, the climax of the Milford track. The entire walk today was beautiful in every sense of the word. There are sheer cliffs on both sides, towering so high and so steep that there is not even one peak visible from so deep in the valley. All you can see are the walls of rock reaching high into the sky from the valley floor carved deep and narrow by glaciers long since disappeared. It’s a magical place with waterfalls dropping hundreds of feet from unseen snowfields high above. This track is already turning out to be all it promised.
The track itself was easy to walk, well graded and free of the obstacles you find on most tracks due to DoC’s efforts to make it tourist friendly to the extreme. And where “challenge” is removed by this process, it is compensated for by raw and unimaginable beauty that I fear pictures won’t do justice. So I’ll just say, if you are in New Zealand and have the chance, walk this track and experience some of the most incredible
scenery you’ll ever find.
December 7, 2009 Our route for today continued directly up McKinnon Saddle via 11 switchbacks that had been described to us last night by the hut ranger. It was a pleasant surprise to find out that while I was under the impression that there were 11 full switchbacks (or zig zags as they call them here) it was really only half that number, as each directional change was counted as one. One zig, two zag, three zig, four zag, and so on. So half the expected climb was a mental bonus, although it was still a 1500-foot climb to the top of the pass.
At the pass, which normally would have an amazing view, I was somewhat disappointed to see nothing but gray, as the clouds blocked any and all views. So I had to instead be contented by watching several Keas playing near the extremely long drop-off that existed just outside what was visible. They are incredible birds, the only alpine parrots in the world and endemic to New Zealand.
On the descent down the other side of the saddle, I listened as massive avalanches made the ground shake with thunderous booms. The
fact that they were unseen due to the heavy clouds added an element of excitement. I could hear that they were close, but because I could not see them, I’ll never know just how close they really were.
Eventually we climbed back down to the floor of the Arthur Valley, and witnessed the plant life taking on a green lushness unmatched by most places I’ve ever seen. It was simply beautiful.
An hour before reaching the hut, we took a side trip of an hour to Sutherland Falls, the fifth largest waterfall in the world. It was well worth the extra energy it took to get there after an already long day of hiking. Still half a kilometer away, the power with which the water crashes down from over 580 meters above makes a sound that would drown out a jet engine. I’d heard that you can climb around the falls and stand under/behind them and decided it was too cool of a thing to pass up. So I crawled my way through the crashing water and blinding mist to stand under one of nature’s most powerful forces. Being even 100 feet away from the base you are already drenched
from the spray. Within 50 feet the spray becomes so thick your eyes feel like they are open underwater. And within 25 feet, I had to tell myself to breathe since the cold and force of the water had shocked me into not taking in any breath. When you did breathe in, it felt like the air was half water droplets anyway, so it was hard to continue. But I made it through the spray and to a relatively calm spot between the rock wall and where the torrent of water pounded into the ground. It was an incredibly cool moment, standing there with all my senses fully engaged. But the cold water and the thunderous noise can only be tolerated briefly, so I made my way back after standing there for only about 30 seconds.
Drenched to the bone, I walked the remaining hour to Dumpling Hut. This is the last night on the Milford Track, and the track has really been amazing.
December 8, 2009 Last night it rained… and rained… and rained. By the time we all woke up, the hut ranger had put up a sign telling us that we could not walk the
track just then, and that there was a possibility they may close it altogether due to high water levels. Fortunately, around 9am she told us we’d be leaving, but we had to walk the first two and a half hours as a group (40 people) with her leading us due to the many water crossings. So we set out, hoping to cover the 12 miles before 2pm to get to our boat transport to take us back to civilization.
The track followed the river down the Arthur Valley where it flows out to Milford Sound. Because it’s so narrow, the trail runs right along the river for much of the way. The river was currently flowing about seven feet above normal and DoC would close the track if it rose another foot and a half. But the ranger wanted to get out today too, so she pushed the group to move faster before levels rose any farther.
The rain plummeted down, preventing any chance to take pictures without ruining a camera. This was too bad because today was one of the most beautiful days I can remember, but it will have to live only in my memory. The rain caused
waterfalls to appear literally all around us, and each seemed bigger than the last. The sound of water crashing off all the cliffs, the rain falling, and the sometimes waist-deep water we had to wade through made you feel as though you were in the wettest place on earth.
The sections we had to wade through were interesting. The river spilled over its banks and we were literally walking through it. Water waist high, but not moving too quickly in this area, was dark and murky from the mud, so you had to step carefully and hope that solid ground would be felt under your next step.
After three hours of this, we made it out of the flooded area and on to a more solid track. We raced, not stopping at all, until we got to the mouth of the river where it dumps into the Sound. Here, our boat was waiting to take us back to dry land. Then, we caught a bus back to Te Anau where we had a pizza dinner with Andrew and Sam, two Australian guys we met on the trail. We actually met several pretty cool people over the four days on the
track. As the hut ranger said one night, “The people you meet on these tracks are just as important to the experience as the track itself.” So thanks Shannon, Margaret, Kristine, Sam, Andrew, and everyone else that made the time at the huts enjoyable.
Now dry and full of food, we’ll prepare for the next track - Dusky Sound. A six-night track through similar territory to the Milford, but much wilder, relatively uncleared, and rarely visited by trampers. It should be interesting.
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J/MLeduc
non-member comment
The Hiker
Looks lovely and very inviting! Do you do any fishing in those waters?