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Published: November 30th 2017
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I'm back to civilisation after the Milford Track and I'm not sure if I'm happy or sad...
At first we, Adela and I, had to take a ferry for 1h30 to finally start this famous track that I was waiting for so long. The first day we just had to hike 5 kilometers which was nothing compared to the other days. As we had the whole afternoon we decided to go to the lake next to the hut. This and playing cards in the evenings became part of our journey during the next days.
The first two days were through a beautiful rain forest valley surrounded by mountains covered with snow. Because of the heavy snow last week and because of the sunny weather this week there were hundreds if not even thousands of waterfalls flowing down the mountains. At the second hut Adela and I realised very fast why our backpacks were so heavy compared to the other ones:
- We ate real food (vegetables, rice, pasta, noodles with pesto, fruits) while the other people had the professional powder food
- We were carrying a pan and a pot with us (That's why we became very fast ' the luxembourgish
girls with the pots')
At this hut the ranger told us that usually we were supposed to hang up our boots outside but because of the Keas,the world’s only alpine parrots, it's better to take them in as they destroyed and made disappear a few pairs of shoes the night before.These birds are big and green with beautiful coloured wings. They are considered to be one of the smartest birds in the world. That's why it's important not to leave anything outside incase they would become curious.
Passing blue rivers and lakes and even hearing a few avalanches, we arrived the third day at the top of the mountains where we had a view over the whole valley. Breathtaking! I actually can't describe the feeling I had when I arrived and realised that I made it. I think that it was pure happiness and satisfaction.
We were also very lucky with the weather as usually you should except at least one day of rain but during our trip it was sunny all the time:D Except at the top where we had to wait 10-15 min until the clouds were completely gone.
Going down was less amusing as we
had to take the emergency track and that one was way steeper than the common track. Back on the main track we had the possibility to do a detour of 7 kilometers to see the biggest waterfalls (Sutherland falls) of New Zealand and that's what we did. It was worth a 100%. After 21 kilometers we arrived at our last hut, where we enjoyed our well-deserved noodles with pesto.
The last day was less spectacular but the one with the most kilometers (if you don't consider the detour from the day before): 18km. On our way back we went for a swim in one of the coldest waters of New Zealand which was the best thing to do on such a sweating day. After that we had another 1h 30 to hike until we finally arrived at our final destination the sandfly point, which is well-named... Not to be eaten alive we were waiting in a shelter for a motorboat to drive us back. It was funny because even the driver of the boat knew that we are the luxembourgish girls with the pots as he made a reference that we apparently had the best food during these days.
Well we can't deny as it's probably the truth.
Back to Milford Sound we couldn't await to take a hot shower and enjoy a yummy pizza.
When I returned to Cromwell I didn't really know what to do: Should I stay in Cromwell? Meaning that I would spend some more time with the people that I already know and love or to leave and go up to Nelson... A fresh start, explore new areas, get to know other people and have more and probably different working opportunities. After struggling and sleeping over it for a night I spontaneously decided to go up and celebrate my birthday in Nelson. The best part of this was that Logan came up with me which made it easier to me to leave Cromwell. We had a stopover in Hanmer springs where we were exited (I was probably more exited than Logan was) waiting for the clock to turn to midnight. FINALLY the 28th November :D Sitting in the car, singing songs and drinking some cider we were having a good time.
The day after we had breakfast and I tried a traditional tasty mince pie from NZ. Afterwards we went to the hot
pools. Finally driving to Nelson Logan found a nice backpacker hostel. He made dinner while I took a nap as I didn't get enough sleep the night before. After talking to some people from that hostel we sat together and they sung me a happy birthday and I even got a birthday cake! Definitely all I needed:D Lastly, we drove to the beach where we actually wanted to see the sunset but as organised as we are we missed it. Whatever we went to the beach where we took a midnight swim and for once the water was not freezing. It was PERFECT just as this whole day!
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