Hi there
we are in the process of booking a guided 4 day walk ion the South Island of NZ and are wondering if anyone could share there experiences with us so we have an idea of what to expect ..... oh and pack of course!!
Specifically we are booking the 4 day Milford Sound walk in the Fjordlands. Its conservation considered walk, booked through the national park authorities.
We are reasonably fit and hope to be able to thoroughly enjoy the walk, but would love some further insight into what to expect...
Thanks Dini
Reply to this Hello Dini 😊
I moved this to the Oceania forum.
Mel
Reply to this Hi Mel
thanks. Spotted you doing this a couple of times. I took care to select the Oceania forum as the previous post was moved too, maybe theres a problem when people initially set up forum on the site?
X Dini
Reply to this As well as selecting Oceania and New Zealand you have to be actually in the relavant forum when you make the thread in order for your post to appear there.
Mel
Reply to this Dini,
My wife and I did the Milford Track in December 02 and despite it being the rainy season, had a great time. The facilities are superb, the food outstanding and the views along the track can be spectacular.
We had rain, heavy rain, every day and the waterfalls were fantastic. We could see all the beautiful mountains because of the rain but had it been clear there would have been no waterfalls.
Not sure when you are planning on going but PM me should you have further questions.
bruce from bryce
Reply to this Excuse me but I meant to say - "we could not see all the beautiful mountains..."
Reply to this Great, thanks Bruce, Will PM you shortly. We are going November. I thought December was summer in NZ, is that the rainy season?
Reply to this Thes west coast receives some of the greatest amounts of rain anywhere in the world. I am not sure if there is a dry season over there.
If you follow all the suggestions that the tour company makes then you will not have any problems. Breathable, waterproof outer garments made it tolerable despite all the rain.
We carried small days packs jammed to the gills with everything we needed for the four days. Each day it was all we could do to get the lunch stuffed in the packs but that doesn't mean you need a large one.
bruce from bryce
Reply to this December is summer in NZ, but weather is generally more settled in late Jan/Feb.
As Bruce mentioned the amount of rain is just typical climate conditions for the west coast - it rains in Milford Sound more than half the days in the year.
Just take good wet-weather gear, and get out there :-)
Reply to this i am also looking to do the Milford Sound tour, i am hoping after i finish my Oz trip then fly to Queensland and do the tour then head up to great barrier island then to Auckland.
I was wondering if anyone knows any good sites to get info from on Milford Sound?
Ami
Reply to this Do you mean Queenstown Ami? (in the South Island of NZ. Queensland is a state of Australia)
Just google 'Milford Sound tours' and you'll get plenty of results. Can't actually recommend any as I haven't done the walk yet.
Have you tried checking for Milford sound blog entries? You could the relevant blogger a few questions.
Reply to this Hi Ami
from what I have found out so far....if you want to do the trek on a budget the way to go is with the DOC (Department of conservation) - around 200NZD with transfers. They do limited visitors to just 40 per day though and it’s all booked up well in advance - especially for the summer months. Any of the commercially organised trips we have found are rather expensive- starting from 1500NZD.
The Milford has an amazing reputation for the best trek in NZ, but its worth considering other trek's such as the Kepler Track.
The DOC website is: www.doc.govt.nz
All the best.
And PS: Bring some waterproofs!
Reply to this Check out this website as it is the official site that guides the Milford Track. http://www.ultimatehikes.co.nz/
Ultimate Hikes is the only company that actually guides the 5day/4night trek on the track and utilizes the lodge system. Current price would be $3850NZ. This example departure date was 1 Nov 2008.
As for hiking it and using the hut system the site Dini mentioned will show availability.
Reply to this Personally I don't think that you need a guide for any of the New Zealand's great walks. Especially if you are on a budget. In addition, after walking almost all of the New Zealand's great walks I can say that they are easy to walk and any reasonably fit person can easily walk them, just be prepared for the rain as it can start at any time of the day, week, months or year 😊
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