Milford Sound - proving NZ can get even MORE beautiful

On the boat to Milford Track

Shortly after my parents flew home, I started to get ready for my first multi-day tramp in the NZ Great Outdoors: the Milford Track.  I was explicitly told from one lady at my church in Maine that I HAD to hike the Milford Track because it is one of the most scenic hikes in the world!.  Given a recommendation like that from someone who’s never been to NZ but knows about this particular hike, I made it a high priority. 

Nicky, my Italian hiking partner in crime, and I got together and booked our stays in the huts along the way and planned to do the hike in the last few days of the season.  The tramping season is from October-April and then (so we heard) they take away some of the bridges and the rivers start to rise and you have to be able to ford rivers, find your route in a blizzard and be fully prepared for all hell to break loose.  Despite the lower cost of staying in huts during the off-peak season, we decided that our hiking skills were just shy of those requirements and booked during the higher prices of the peak season.  We figured our mothers would be happy with that decision.

After taking a brief inventory of the hiking things we (didn't!) have, we decided we needed to talk with people who had gone on multi-day hikes before to determine what we needed.  Enter Vanessa: my lovely and continuous Kiwi knowledge go-to lady.  After coffee and questions, I borrowed almost all Vanessa's stuff (thank you!) and Nicky and I got packed and got up bright and early (before the sun!) and started our journey out to Te Anau in the Fiordlands.

Lake Te Anau

When we got on the boat, I noticed that my backpack was the smallest BY FAR.  I used to be a heavy packer.  After 5 months in Europe schlepping everything everywhere, I started to pare down what I carried with me.  4 more years in New York honed this skill and the final result was admiring stares when I picked up my backpack and walked off the boat.  In all honesty, it was too small and without Nicky to help out with the load, I wouldn’t have been able to do it with my backpack.  But that point aside, what some of the other trampers brought still seems excessive!  Nicky and I couldn’t think of many more things we would have liked to have had with us, but I suppose if we’d been caught in a blizzard we would have been screwed.  Good thing the weather was beautiful!

On the way to Clinton Hut

To get to the start of the track you have to take an hour boat ride through Lake Te Anau.  During the trip, the captain of the boat narrates what you’re passing and what you can expect on the tramp.  He’s a funny one and kept us all laughing while we surreptitiously checked out our fellow trampers to see who we wanted to hang out with in the huts.  Once we reached the start point, we dipped our boots in a special water so we would prevent the spread of this gross algae whose proper name I don’t remember but whose common name is Rock Snot - and that’s exactly what it looks like.  It’s gross so the Department of Conservation (DOC) is trying to prevent the spread of it.

The swimming hole with FRIGID waters, horrible sand-flies and stunning views

Day 1 is a really short day: a 5k walk to the first hut.  At the hut, the DOC hut warden guided a little nature walk but Nicky and I only heard part of it as we preferred to get to the swimming hole.  In summer weather, the frigid water probably feels great because you’re hot and sweaty.  When you’re just barely warm enough to begin with, the frigid water is really really frigid - not that that stopped me from wading in. 

Clinton Hut in the morning before we left - yes, I did hula with the ginormous hula hoops :)

The first hut was actually 3 huts: 2 full of bunks and 1 where all the cooking stoves and tables were.  We made our soup and sat down at one of the tables and started talking with everyone there.  I met one girl who had gone to school in Gore with Vanessa (small world, eh?) and we made friends with this lovely Australian couple who commented on the size of my backpack and Nicky’s legwarmers: they were fans of both.  The hut warden came in and told us safety stuff and what to expect on the tramp the next day.  He had a really dry sense of humor which amused me, but he also talked for a long time so when he was done most of us just went to bed.  The next morning, we were almost the last ones to leave, and it was only half past 8ish!  But that was fine because we didn’t like hiking amidst a large group and we didn’t feel bad about holding people up when we stopped every 4 feet to take pictures. 

More stunning views on the way to "Hidden Lake" - Nicky taking pictures at Hidden Lake

Day 2 was about a 13km hike with the majority of the elevation change in the last couple km.  What is most apparent, aside from the murderous sand-flies - whom bug repellent does not dissuade - is that the water is SO clear.  You can see straight to the bottom no matter how deep it is.  The colors were stunning: blues and teals which my camera couldn’t do any justice.  It was a constant fight to not stop and gawk at the clarity of water every few feet.  Right before the last hut we crossed a scree field.  In bad weather, or heavy rainfalls, it’s a treacherous place to cross and because of that there’s a shelter, called the “bus depot” on one side so you can sit and wait for it to be crossable.  Fortunately, it was dry so crossing was easy peasy.  It started to sprinkle a little bit just before be we got to the second hut but nothing worth writing home about (oops, guess I just did).  

The Kea - Our hiking boots hung for protection from said Kea - Mintaro Hut

Mintaro Hut was by far my favorite hut.  It was all one building with a couple bunk rooms downstairs, separated from the cooking/eating/stove area and an open room upstairs with more bunk beds and extra mattresses on the floor.  We got bunks upstairs but spent most of our time downstairs with our new found friends.  After we hung up our boots outside (they needed to be hung up or else the Keas would steal them - literally!) it was only about 4pm and we weren’t sure what to do until dinner and bed time.  We made tea and started playing a card game, and then we started talking with the other people our age.  We met 3 sisters, Meg, Mo and Kate, who were from the states, a British couple currently working in Christchurch and another couple from San Francisco.  The 9 of us started playing S***head - a fabulous card game despite its vulgar name.  It started to get quite competitive and inexplicably addictive.  We stayed up late laughing and joking around.  When the lights went off in the main room we were not deterred.  Everyone whipped out their head torches and extra flashlights and card play continued until late in the evening.  I can happily say that I never ended being the s***head.  I came close, but I’ve got some serious card playing skills. 

MacKinnon Pass and the Monument to him - The path to the 11 Second Drop

Once the fog cleared on the way down from MacKinnon Pass

The next morning, Day 3 and the longest distance and most elevation change day, we got moving earlier.  We climbed up the 11 zig zags carved into the lee side of the mountain (no wind and therefore a warm ascent considering how cold it was at the top!).  At the summit we sheltered behind the monument erected there for MacKinnon and had some muesli bars and cookies.  We were all bundled up and thankful that we’d packed our hats and mittens close to the top of our packs.  We had heard about the 11 second drop in one direction versus the 3-4 hour descent in the other direction - we opted to take the longer descent, again a nod to the mothers we knew would be pissed if we died.  There was a small hut to relax in just around the corner from the summit and we planned to stop there for a bit but we came around a bend in the trail and the view was STUNNING.  I stood there gawking and “Oh my God!”-ing for a good 10 minutes before I finally moved on and entered the hut.  We re-grouped, dried off, repacked and kept on going, although at a much slower pace because the views were continuously stunning and the cloud cover was receding so more gorgeous peaks made their presence known to our camera lenses. 

Sutherland Falls

An hour before we reached the final hut there was a turn off to go see Sutherland Falls - the highest waterfall in the Southern Hemisphere: 580m.  We were able to drop our packs in a day shelter and do the hour detour hike with just a camera - an amazing feeling after 3 days with 15 kilos on your back!  The falls were really pretty and some crazy people actually went swimming in the pool at the bottom.  I think if it had been warmer I would have done the same, but I was actually pretty keen to get to the hut for a cup of tea and more s***head.  However, the cold spray from the falls got us damp enough without swimming and we took oodles of pictures before heading back to our packs and the final hour to get to the hut.

My favorite picture of the clouds at MacKinnon Pass

Upon arrival at the final hut, we were quickly ushered into one of the sleeping buildings by some fellow friendly trampers because we were assured that no one who snored was in that room.  There had been constant conversation about one epic snorer who kept people up at night.  Fortunately, we were nice and quiet enough in our sleep that we were actively sought after to fill empty bunks.  I felt completely special and like part of the “in” crowd.  Who’d have thought that people in their 30s, 40s, and 50s can still be so exclusive in their choice of group members?  Our sleeping hut was full of cool people who we got along with and had a good laugh with, and once again, after changing into our thermals and comfy clothes, we went to the cooking hut to make dinner, play more cards and exchange stories about our hiking experience that day.  It was another late night (headlamps included again!) and an early morning because we had a 2pm boat to catch back to Milford and it was a 6 hour hike to Sandfly Point.

Nicky in all her hiking glory :)

Sandfly Point is aptly named so we didn’t want to get there too early, but we knew our habit of taking lots of pictures so we left just before 8am and booked it.  We stopped at the Bell Rock.  It’s literally a rock that’s hollow in the middle like a bell.  Apparently 22 Japanese tourists squeezed in the rock and still hold the record for most people in there.  I guess this is the Kiwi equivalent of the American "how many people can you fit in a Volkswagen bug?"  Leave it to the Kiwis to have their records based in nature.  I would like to think we could have beaten the record, but after 4 days of hiking with no real showers, I’m not sure I’d want to be in a closely confined area with 22 other sweaty hikers… Regardless, the rock was cool, as were the Mackay Falls.  When the first two guys who tramped into Milford, Mackay and Sutherland,  this was the first falls they came across.  Mackay and Sutherland flipped a coin to see who would get to name the falls.  Mackay won the coin toss and Sutherland had to settle for the next waterfall.  He was gutted at first, but then they came across Sutherland Falls…

The last views - and the minor Falls - on our last day on the track

It started raining during the last couple hours of the trip so everyone stopped at the last shelter, about an hour from Sandfly Point.  We were all trying to time our arrival at Sandfly Point as close to the boat departure time as possible because sand-flies are horrendous beings that don’t succumb even to specialized bug repellent.  When we finally left the shelter we were behind the Australian couple we’d met.  They both had Aarn backpacks that they absolutely loved and I wanted to try them out since the whole trip I had been mentally backpack shopping as I passed people.  So, I put on his backpack for a bit while he carried mine, and then I swapped with her and she carried mine for the last few hundred meters and I think I’m sold on Aarn.  I’ve yet to try one out for several days (Aarn has an awesome system.  They let you borrow a pack to try out on a tramp before you buy it!) but I fully intend to try one and possibly buy one and then feel like a real tramper! (that's trampER with an ER.  please don't forget that all too important suffix).  We got to Sandfly Point just as the boat did (perfect timing I say!), took pictures at the finish point sign and climbed aboard the boat for our last trip through Milford Sound.  We had some stunning views of Mitre Peak and some excellent waterfalls, but sadly those were on Nicky’s camera and we lost those pictures :( so I’ll have to find a postcard of those views.  But they were lovely!