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Published: March 18th 2009
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Feb 24- Mar 1 - Milford Trek
What an adventure! And I better finish the blog before it never gets done. We have more adventures to report!
Day 1 - Left Timaru and drove to Te Anau. We tried unsuccessfully to locate Bob and Tina Powell in Queenstown on our way through and are pretty sure we passed their bus coming from the Milford Sound enroute to Queenstown. We got to our Top Ten Holiday Park in time to book a Glow Worm tour that night. We ordered gourmet pizza in our room, had a glass of wine, threw on some warm clothes and headed out to the dock to catch the ferry to the glow worm caves. It was really a fun trip and a cool hike through caves and around waterfalls. At the end there was a VERY dark boat ride to the glow worms. You felt like you were floating in space as the boat drifted in darkness under the glow worms. Very cool. It was a late night, but our Milford Trek ferry didn't leave until 2pm the next day.
Day 2 - Got up late, made a large, warm breakfast, rented hiking sticks,
TeAnau
Glow Worm Boat - our first adventure! bought new socks, took a walk around the bird reserve, saw the rare Takahe, and checked in with the DOC before being picked up to catch the ferry to the start of the trek. The ferry left at 2 and took approx. an hour. Our first bit of the tramp was only 5km and took us 2 hours. It was a warm day and the kids dropped their packs as soon as we got to the Clinton Hut and headed down to the river for a swim. Ugh, what we failed to take time to do was put bug repellent on and we were eaten alive by sandflys. These are so much worse than mosquitos as the itch will last up to 3 weeks. (In fact, it is now 3 weeks later as I write this and I have bites on my wrists, hands, and legs that still itch). Gregg and Syd took a nature walk with the ranger while I hung back wth the boys who were doing some homework while I made dinner. We had spaghetti with meat and vegies as it wasn't too much to schlepp with us the first day. We also treated ourselves better on
this tramp and brought a plastic bladder with enough red wine for a glass every night.
Day 3 - This was a lovely day, but a bit more painful for the boys. It was a gradual climb from Clinton Hut to Mintaro Hut located just before the start of the Mackinnon Pass. It was through thick rain forrest and the boys complained a lot about their packs. At one point Graham and I switched packs and I realized his pack was heavier than mine and a lot less comfortable. The tramp was 16.5km and took us about 7 hours. We ate the heavy Indian food that I had packed in Graham's bag to help him out the next day.
Day 4 - Should have been the killer day as it was up over the pass and double the distance down the other side. We let the kids sleep in and left the hut at around 10am. It was a steady climb for 3 hours. It was really overcast and foggy. You'll see from the photos that we were hiking in a cloud. We were disappointed that we wouldn't get to see the stunning vistas from the top of
the pass, but luck was with us!!! It was cloudy when we reached the top and we stopped for a brief view, while standing there there the clouds parted and we caught a glimpse of the mountain peaks and valleys that were hidden in the clouds. We snapped a few quick photos not realizing that we were going to get SO lucky and have all the clouds burn off and leave us with a spectacular day. The photos tell the story.
It was a very long hike down but the kids loved this day. We all met on top of the pass, had lunch, took some photos and then parted ways. Sydney and Graham were miles ahead of us and were told to meet us at the start of the Sutherland Falls track which was a detour of 1 1/2 hours to view the falls. Gregg started out with Graham and then dropped back with me and Avery after hearing an avalanche or rock slide. We all heard it, but only a few of the group that were lagging behind actually saw it. Luckily, Avery and I only heard it and made our way further down the mountain very quickly.
There were many gorgeous waterfalls along the path down to Sutherland Falls. I probably would not have stopped to see Sutherland Falls, but the sandflys were so bad that I thought I would be eaten alive if I sat and waited for the rest of the family. Gregg and the kids actually hiked behind the falls and got a nice cooling off (and brain freeze headaches). I opted to stay back and photographic their experience. At this point we had been hiking for 7 1/2 hours and still had over an hour to go!
It turned out to be a 9 hour day and we arrived at Dumpling Hut at 7pm. Exhausted, but enthusiastic about the day, we finished off the wine, had a quick dinner, re-organized our packs for an early start on Saturday.
Day 5 - Ugh, had to leave at 7am to insure that we would make the 2pm ferry that we had booked. There was a 3:30pm ferry, but we had booked a Milford Sound Tour at 3pm and wanted to make sure we got to it. It was only 18 km and meant to take 6 hours but we always need to add some
At the start...
Ready to go...luckily a short day. extra time for breaks. I really hated to be on this schedule crunch as it took some of the enjoyment out of the last day. Avery was have a serious meltdown, but in the end did not want any help and insisted on carrying his pack the entire way. Graham and Sydney got to Sandfly Point, and the end of the trail, over an hour before us. But we made it with 20 minutes to spare for picture taking, etc... The ferry to Milford took only 20 minutes but it was a beautiful chance to reflect and relax. The Milford Sound Tour was much of the same. In fact, there were several trampers on the tour and we all shared our stories and experiences. It was a huge relief and sense of accomplishment, but also a bit sad. Hiking the Milford was one of the very first trips I wanted to make sure we took during our New Zealand experience. We booked this tour, and the Routeburn, on July 15, 2008 and can't believe these two tramps are over. After our boat trip, we boarded a bus to take us back to Te Anau. The bus was filled with trampers
Swim Hole
Sandfly dance! that we had spent the past 4 days with and again we were all sharing our stories (stinky bus!). On the Milford Trek, there are 40 Independent hikers, and 44 Guided Walkers every day. We were told that 16,000 people tramp the Milford every year!
Back at the Top Ten, it was hot showers, take away food, a great bottle of wine, and television.
Day 6 - Ugh, the 6 hour drive back to Timaru. Sore as our muscles were, we were already discussing what our next (and most likely last) tramp in New Zealand might be be. We are thinking maybe the Abel Tasman in November?
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Uncle Stevie
non-member comment
Where's the pictures of the glow worms?