My Milford Track Story

I have to say that I have now replaced my most memorable and best experience in NZ. Previously it was the Tongariro Crossing. It is now the Milford Track. It was so incredible.

A selection of my photos are here.

Day 1
The journey started with a bus ride from the Department of Conservation (DOC) office to Te Anau Downs where we caught a boat across Lake Te Anau to Glade Wharf. It was a pretty crossing. On board the boat where independent walkers, such as myself, and guided walkers who pay lots of money but do not need to carry food or a sleeping bag.

Once across the lake I made sure that I got ahead of most of the walkers because I didn't want to be walking with a large group. I did see a few people (who I later hung out with) but generally I had the trail to myself. I walked along the Clinton River up to Clinton Hut. It was a very, very short day - only 2 miles or so with little elevation gain. Once at the hut the sandflies made an appearance. Later I read this description of them.

"Just as the soul rises to great ecstasies comtemplating the beatuies of nature you are suddenly brought back to sublunary things by the bite of darned pernicious, pernickety, perverse, sanguinary, persistent, persecuting, poisonous, insidious, insignificant, voracious, devils imp of a sandfly" D. A. Jolly 1895.

The Maori believed that their gods had put them there to ensure that no one stayed in one place for very long and destroyed the beauty of the fiordland.

Well let me tell you - it was hard to stay in one place for long.

I met a couple (Emma and Jamie) from Australia and we had a bite to eat together. Then I headed down to the rock pools in the nearby Clinton River. I warmed up on a large rock. Emma and Jaime came down later and took a very cool swim in the river. I guess it would be a bonus to clean yourself after the walk but I was not game. I chose the cold water sink to clean up.

Later we cooked up dinner on the gas burners in the cooking hut. It took me quite a while to get the hang of lighting it but in the end I got my water boiling. I ate a freeze dried meal which was edible but by no means a culinary delight. Later someone left the plastic on his pot while trying to use it to cook and started a small plastic fire. It was put out quickly but smelled very bad.

Despite the fact that it was an easy day, one guy was already talking about pulling the pin and heading back. He was there with his three sons and daughter. In the end his elder son carried both his and his father's packs and the dad went on.

That evening I met a few more of the walkers along the track including a group of Americans from Kansas/ Texas. It turns out that they are also walking the Kepler on the 26th as I am. That is a funny coincidence.

Day 2 - 16.5 km (not including hike up and back to Pass)
I woke up early on Day 2. I continued my bad luck with the gas burners. I somehow managed to choose the burner that the guy melted the plastic on the night before to boil water for breakfast. Eventually my water boiled and I ate oatmeal for breakfast.

I hadn't meant to leave so early but I was being eaten alive by mosquitos so I got my gear together in record time and got out of there. Day 2 consisted of walking through a the Clinton River valley. I was surrounded by huge mountain sides carved out by glaciers and striking waterfalls. I could see Mackinnon Pass that we would climb over along the track. It was a mostly flat walk with some elevation gain at the end. Despite the number of people on the Track (40 independent walkers and I don't know how many guided walkers), I only saw one person the entire day. It was fantastic.

I got to the Mintaro Hut around lunch time. Since the day was beautiful and the weather for the next day is always uncertain. We were advised to climb the pass to ensure we got the views. I left to climb the Pass after a lunch of noodles and instant veggie soup carrying only my camera and a bottle of water.

The climb up was quite beautiful with wild flowers. I walked through a falling rock zone (later I heard that a group of walkers heard a very large boulder fall - BOOM, BOOM, BOOM). On the way up I had views of Lake Minataro and Mt Elliot. The climb was a little over 2 miles up and the elevation gain was 560 meters. The footing was rocky and uneven. I kind of dreaded climbing it again the next day with a pack on.

Close to the top I stopped a memorial and was lucky enough to be given an air show by two kea (alpine parrots). It was great. The were flying above a huge drop off called the 12 second drop because it takes 12 seconds to fall from there to the bottom. I could see the guided walker accommodation for the next day at the very bottom.

I continued up to Mackinnon Pass (1154 m) and got some stunning views of nearby Mt Balloon and Mt Hart.

In my room I met a pair of Germans there with their Dad and Mom. They had had a long and tiring day because their dad is legally blind. I had no idea how they were going to make it over the Pass.

That night I was pretty tired and hit the sack as soon as possible but had time to win a quick game of spoons before I went to bed.. All gear had to be stored inside because the kea will steal anything they can get their beaks on. Boots could be hung on pegs outside off the ground. I kept mine inside just to be safe.

Day 3 - 14 km (not including hike up and back to Sutherland Falls)
The keas woke us up at 5am with their squawking. I guess they wanted us out and about so they could scavange stuff from us. I hit the trail early again.

It was cloudy in the morning which made the climb up to Mackinnon Pass cool. I was glad that went up the day before for photos. I kind of liked seeing it a different way. It made climbing twice a different experience each time. The hike up was no where near as bad as I thought it would be. I think I did it in about the same amount of time as the day before but I didn't stop to take any photos on the way up on Day 3. On Day 2 I took photos of the scenery and the wild flowers.

The descent was beautiful with many water falls but it was uneven and rocky. I wondered how the blind German was going to do it.

I did a side trip to Sutherland falls. It is the highest waterfall in NZ. It was quite beautiful. On the way back at Quinton Hut I met up with a bunch of the people that I hung out with in the evening. It was kind of cool to hang out and chat with them on the trail because generally my days had been pretty solitary. After a chat and a rest I continued down the Track and they went up to Sutherland Falls.

The range of when people made it to the Hut was huge. The blind guy didn't get in until after 8:00PM. His son said the day was "hell" but his dad fell only twice. He said that he had no idea of what Milford Track was like. His dad and mom had watched a video that showed people walking on a flat and easy track by a river. One woman had hurt her knee and didn't know if she could continue.

At the nightly ranger talk the ranger informed us that the weather report had changed. Heavy rain was now predicted for the night. Since there is a chance of flooding none of us could leave in the morning until we checked in with him. If the Track flooded we had a number of options. We might wait to leave until the water level dropped. We might spend another night at that hut (good that I had emergency food - some people had eaten theirs). We might be helicoptered over the flooded part of the Track. In addition we might be walking in some water up to our calves. Well that kind of through us into a spin but what is an outdoor adventure without a bit of adventure.

Day 4 - 18 km
Well it didn't rain at ALL in the night so we were good to go. I was up early again and so was everyone else. The slow ones had to get an early start to ensure they would catch the boat at the end of the Track.

It was a day filled with spectacular waterfalls. The color of the water flowing through them was simply amazing. At Mackay waterfalls there was a rock that had been eroded and then flipped over. It is called Bell Rock. Myself and another walker crawled in underneath and stood up. Apparently you can fit 12 Westerners in there to seek shelter during a storm (I think it would be pretty tight) or 22 Japanese.

The end of the Track is called Sandfly Point (guess why!). There was a shelter for us to wait for the boat to take us to Milford. There is a large sign with many pairs of boots that are in such bad shape they could not make it one more step - holes in soles, soles pealing off, etc.

I had super weather on this trip - only a little rain on the last day. I hope that we have as good of weather on the Kepler but I don't know if one person can be that lucky.