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Published: November 26th 2008
Day 15 to 19
Hi Everyone!
I made it out alive, did anyone miss me?
Below is our account of the fabulous Milford Sound Trek...expect blood, sweat & tears!
Milford Sound Trek Day 1 This is easy!
So we got up at 6am, had our final shower, got our packs ready with food for four days and tried to prepare ourselves for what lay ahead. Yep, we’re crackers, a four day hiking trek 53km long, with mountains, avalanches, waterfalls, raging rivers and viscous sandflies!
Its 9am and we are being collected by the DOC trip organisers at 9.15am…the battery on the van goes flat…Ohhhh crikey, what now. Friendly caretaker in the campsite jumpstarts van, we breathe sigh of relief move the van to the secure parking site and hop onto the coach.
Looking around us there are a few other rather nervous looking faces….why did we sign up for this?!
From to coach its onto the ferry at the Teanu Downs lake and then we have made it to finally made to the start of the mighty Milford Sound Trek. (Jaime decides to twist his ankle on the ferry steps first though, mmmh sign of things to come?)
Milford Trek is actually world renowned under hardened trekkers. Its down as one of the most beautiful walks in the world.
So here we are the start sign, looking fresh as daisy’s.
The first day is pretty easy as it involves just a short 1 ½ hour walk along the Clinton River to our first over night hut, named after Mr Clinton…no not the US guy, but the explorer who discovered the pass back in the 18 hundreds.
The huts are very basic, but we tell ourselves its better than camping.
There is freezing river water to wash with and drink, some wooden bunk beds and some gas cooking rings for us to utilize.
And now for our first introduction to the local wildlife - The Sandfly.
Cute looking little things, similar to fruitflies but have a very viscous bite with some nasty bacteria that leaves you itchy and with infections. Bring out the insect repellent! (80% Deet!!! Not that its stops them).
After a little guided tour of the surrounding nature land with our Hut Ranger we had dinner and then waited for darkness to fall to venture into the bush and hunt for gloworms. And a fab
little lightshow we found too…like a miniature solar system hanging in the darkness……
Milford Sound Trek Day 2 Ok, me cant do this!
After a somewhat restful night we head of for our first full day of trekking. It’s a 6-8 hour hike through the Clinton Valley and up to our next hut of Mintaro.
The first few hours are a delight, with sunshine and breathtaking scenery…then it gets hot and the track turns into steep bushland. I suddenly realize the pain your legs go through whilst climbing endless rocky inclines. My backpack was starting to get heavier by the mile and it took some serious willpower and endless encouragement from Jaime to get me to the sanctuary of the Mintaro hut.
That was it for me, I got scared, the next day we were supposed to be climbing a 1000m meter mountain and I could not get through the first trek.
Milford Sound Trek Day 3 I climb a mountain
The aforementioned brave boy Jaime, decided that weather was too fabulous to miss for views from the mountain. So after our hot and sticky day 2 he hiked up (and down the McKinnon Pass)
1000 meters up and 1000 meters down again…only to do it all again with me the next day.
I got very little sleep as the sandfly’s where eating us alive in our sleepingbags and it had got very cold over night, but it was either embarrass yourself by admitting you’re an unfit couch-potato and pay for a helicopter ride out of there, or climb the blumming mountain.
So climb the mountain I did! Yep, yep you heard me correctly: “I climbed a mountain!”.
Elation made me run round the peak posing for pics with amazing back drops, little did I know of what was to come next…..
Strong winds howled around us as we commenced the descend into the Arthur River Valley. The trek consisted of sharp large rocks that we carefully had to pick our way over, stopping every 15 minutes or so to let our knees and ankles recover from the impact of a 10kg backpack with every step.
We heard thunderous sounds in the distance and at first I thought we were in for a storm, but they turned out to be avalanches! The snow on the peaks of the surrounding mountains was coming down hard and
fast. We continued our descend whilst nervously looking about for signs of avalanches heading our way when we came across a warning sign from the DOC telling us our main trek was closed due to the avalanches and we would have to take the emergency trek with an added de-tour.
This was trek was no picnic as rocks where even bigger and in some places slippery from streams running along them. It took hours to reach the treeline which finally provided some shelter from the strong winds.
We came across some spectacular waterfalls as we picked our way further down the valley…I can’t do them justice with words, lets just to say I was privileged to see the most beautiful view in New Zealand.
Not far now, I kept thinking we just need to reach the marker pointing out Sutherland falls and we will have made it to our next shelter…..
I hobbled my way down the mountain and finally spotted the sign pointing to our hut only to discover that I had misread the map…we had another hour to go!
Well what happened next showed the true resolve and patience Jaime showed me throughout our time on Milford. I
completely and utterly broke into tears and I’m not just talking a few, I was on the floor, had nothing left and just wanted to cry, cry cry.
Jaime hugged me, wiped away my tears, took my backpack off me and half carried me to the nearest shelter. There we came across two fellow trekkers who offered me rehydration salts and a cuppa. Jaime dug my emergency rations of marshmallows out of my pack for me and within half an hour I managed to pull myself together. I resisted the offer of our fellow trekkers to carry my backpack to the next hut for me and hobbled my way for yet another hour to the next hut. Thank you Jaime, I would not have got back on the trek without you……
Milford Sound Trek Day 4 - To run or fly
Our hut ranger Ian had given us a rather worrying safety briefing last night.
The weather forecast was even for NZ standards looking pretty grim. They were expecting at least 220mm of rain to fall, which does not sound like much to start with, but imagine you’re in a glacier carved valley with hundreds of waterfalls,
melt-water from the surrounding mountains, lakes and rivers to fill up that huge granite swimming pool your staying in and then add on some torrential rain and your likely to be swimming home.
We were to be briefed again with an update on the weather at 7am the next day.
If the rainswaters got to us before we could trek out of the valley we would have to be helicopterd out…..mmmhh don’t think anyone slept too soundly that night.
Some entertainment appeared before bedtime though. We were in Alpine parrot country and those cheeky Kia and Kaka parrots sure paid us a visit.
The Kia have highly developed fun bones and are known for their stealth like burglary skills. Hang onto your stinky boots or they are likely to kidnap them and shred them to pieces. Luckily we only had one victim in our group who after giving some chase managed to recover his belongings intact.
We were also visited by a Waka family, these are similar to the rare Kiwi birds, flightless and very very cute.
So morning came and the ranger informed us that we would be walking ourselves out of the valley and we would
certainly get our feet wet and had to make the 18km journey within 6-7hrs to make the boat collecting us at the end of the trek.
I asked about the temperature of the water we would have to go through as the day was heading for a pretty chilly start and was told not to worry as we would be wading in and out of the water, so if we kept moving hypothermia should not be an issue.
Now, I dare anyone to go for a 18km hike in torrential rain, on a granite rock path, cross dozens of rivers and waterfalls and mange to escape with their vital bits attached and functioning. My God, that hike was cold and rather painful. We had to wade through waterfalls and rivers with strong currents pushing us down into the water, make our way up high cliff sides with the torrent river rushing past below and just inches to spare you from falling in.
It was one of the most physically and psychologically challenging things I have ever done in my life. We were in pain from the previous days mountain decent and after the first few hours of freezing river
crossings, real fear of contracting pneumonia was setting in.
By around 11am my hands were starting to split from the wet and cold and cramps were plaguing my shoulders.
I was so scared Jaime would get pneumonia as he looses body heat very quickly. He held my hand every time we crossed a river and it felt like holding onto iceblocks.
He barely complained, but I knew the cold was hurting him and we needed to get out of there fast.
I must admit though that although we were going through hell, we were certainly in the most spectacular place to witness what beauty the power of water can bring.
The waterfalls sounded like thunder, the rivers had tripled in size and our trek had turned into a continuous stream itself. The sheer scale of it all was breathtaking.
Fear of drowning and exposure had now set deep into my thoughts and I managed to set the fastest pace of the whole trek. We willpowerd our way through and felt elation at every waterfall or river crossed safely.
Finally the 50km marker came and went, we knew we were close to the finish….51, 52, 53 and finally 53.
5km.
The shelter was in sight, our boat ride to civilisation was waiting and I actually managed a little celebration dance before collapsing and commencing several hours of exhausted shivering whilst having my hands where stuffed into someone’s wolly socks (clean ones I was assured) and my limbs where rubbed vigorously to bring them back to life.
And poor Jaime eventually returned from a scary blue-ish purple colour to a nice healthy pink….
So there you have it. A 53.5km journey with blood, sweat and tears. Ask me if I would do it again and you will find yourself laughed out of the room. Ask me if I regret it and you will receive hours of complaints about my bruises, cuts, sandfly bites and very sore limbs, but I’ll finish with a grin telling you that this girlie hiked the most renowned trek of New Zealand and lived to tell the tale ……..
And now for the best bit, we booked ourselves into a swish, dry, warm room for the night and I had the most glorious bubblebath of my life. (Which also resulted in me nicking all the hot water before poor Jaime got a
chance to defrost himself in the tub - sorry honey…..) We ordered a take away, watched something on the telly and then fell gently asleep on warm, fluffy pillows……..
Day 20 Toast & Jam
Today is down as recovery day. Yeay! I can sleep, have hot showers and eat toast and jam all day. I cant conceal my groans every time I move an inch of my body, but it feels like a weight has been lifted (and not just the 10kg backpack!), its done, we can start enjoying ourselves, head wherever we want, stop whenever we want and if we want to sleep past 6am well we jolly well can!!!!
Just one minor issues to look out for now, Jaime’s got walking fever and there are numerous ueber challenging treks throughout New Zealand that have caught his eye.
HELP!!
Day 21 On the road again
We set off from Te Anau around 10 this morning and are making our way further down south. There is so much to do and see around here. Its true Lord of the Rings country, with Mount Doom and The Shire look-alike’s around every corner.
We stop at Doubtful Sound with the
intention of boarding a cruise for a couple of hours and then moving on to a place called Clifden to explore some Limestone Caves.
But fate has another idea and we are seduced by the thought of an overnight cruise and book ourselves a vessel for the very next day. Its sounds fab: Yellow crested penguins, fur seals and some rare hector dolphins on the schedule. We board our vessel at lunchtime, glide along Lake Manipouri, take a coach over the pass between the lake and the Doubtful Sound and then anker up for the night to enjoy a three course dinner. Ahhh life is good when your not on the M62 .
To kill some time until our cruise tomorrow, we headed to the Caves at Cliftden and Jaime purposely descended into the dark unknowns whilst I waited for him in our camper. Brave boy, you would not get me squeezing myself through nuk’s and cranny’s to view a few gloworms and stalactites….
He made it out within the 45 minute time limit I set him (It was raining slightly and I’ve seen those horrid tv documentaries where silly people go down caves and then drown as they flood
with rainwater…so it was a strict time limit for the Jaimster!). He was covered in mud and bubbling over with the thrills of dark, damp caving….. sorry Trixie, I’m trying to keep your boy clean and safe.
We’re back in Manapouri for the night and have found ourselves a little campsite called Possums lodge. Its teaming with semi tame birdlife who happily hop onto the picnic table next to our camper and scoop up the rice crispies I try to handfeed them.
Its 10pm now, time for lights out and into sleepingbags for us. Hope tonight’s not too cold. We keep meaning to pick up some hot water bottles along the way, but keep forgetting until we again notice that its cold out there……Night, night All….mind the bugs and keep ya toes warm. Xxd
Day 22 Doubtful Sound
Captain Cook saw this Sound (Well its actually a Fjord but hehoy) and named it Doubtful as he was not sure whether his ship would make it past all the reefs.
We board a fast ferry to cross Manapuri Lake at around lunchtime, the hop onto a one hour bus to cross the pass between the Lake and
the sound.
And finally we see our luxury cruiser for the night the Navigator. She can sail too!
We share our cabin with a nice couple from San Francisco - Brian and Sarah. Sarah tells us at dinner that she holds whole conversations in her sleep, but as we are fully equipped with earplugs we miss the chatter.
We sail down the sound to the mouth of the fjord and get to see a huge fur seal colony and some yellow crested penguins just shy of the Tasmanian Sea - so cute, but you could smell those seals a mile of. Its mating season and the seal bulls mark their territory and the cows by scent marking them with musk….the male of the specious tut!
For our evenings entertainment we are ferried down the sound, bundled into lifevests and get to paddle our way upstream in our very own kayaks.
So cool, but sooooo cold! We managed not to fall in but get very wet through paddles and the rain. After some yummy hot soup to warm us up, the entertainment continues…we are actually invited to go for a swim! The captain seems only half serious as the water
is icy cold, but there are some lunatic volunteers who jump right in. After they make it safely, but slightly blue in colour, back on board, Jaime exclaims that he would liked to have had a go…strange how he came up with that once we were well on our way again.
We anker up for the night and then its 3 course dinner time - so nice not to have to slave over a hot camping stove for once.
A couple of hot showers and then a peaceful nights sleep later we are whisk down a couple of side arms for the fjord and get to meet the resident dolphin pod.
They are bottlenose dolphins, one of the largest of the species. They put on a fab show for us by acrobating in and out of the water. Brian, our roomy, promised to send me some of the great shots he managed to get with his ueber-technical camera….will post them once they come through.
Coming soon…The Catlins, gravel roads, sealions and no hot showers!
Hugs for everyone xxd
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Roseanna Starkie
Well done you!
Wow! you did the milford sound track! I really wanted to do that (for bragability value) but we didn't book in advance so we didn't really have time to wait around. Sounds like you had an awsome time, despite the pain. And i completely understand your hate of sandflies. Hope you're having a good time. Roseanna