The Milford Track

When someone asks you "would you like to hike the Milford Track?", the only reply is "yes." The Milford Track is billed as NZ's premier hike and "the finest walk in the world." Now, we're not sure about that last bit after hiking in Patagonia and Tasmania (our standards are getting pretty high), but the route is certainly stunning. The track takes you through Fiordland, in southwestern NZ, which is hacked out of hard granite, with deep u-shaped furrows forming countless valleys and fjords full of waterfalls, rainforest, unique wildlife, and stunning scenery. It's about 35 miles, and done over four days (although day one is a short one-hour jaunt from the ferry landing).  There's space in each hut for 40, so most people book months ahead. But when we walked into a DOC office in Wanaka for unrelated reasons, the ranger cheerfully informed us there had just been a cancellation, and moved our booking from the Kepler track over to the Milford. So we bought some food, drove down to Te Anau and set off on April 6.

Because of its isolation, the track is accessed at the start by a 1-hour, 30km boat ride to the end of lake Te Anau. We set off with good weather, and headed one hour up along the Clinton River to Clinton Hut. We were a little excited and were the first to arrive at Clinton Hut, where we first experienced the sand flies (like black flies) that would plague us intermittently the whole way (but only when stopped, so good motivation to keep walking). The ranger also provided some evening entertainment by feeding dead possum to the native eels, which are huge and were featured in a River Monsters episode.

Day 2 saw us further up the valley under clouds and fog, but no actual rain. We caught glimpses of the nearly vertical mountains surrounding us between long stretches of hiking in a rain forest full of trees dripping with moss and ferns. On the second night everyone began to build a rapport that would last the rest of the trek - and by the end we had about 25 new friends. It would have been 38 new friends, but our trekking group included 13 Koreans and a language barrier, along with their insistence on waking up at 5am and getting on the trail shortly after sunrise, made it difficult to have much conversation.

On day 3 it was up and over the pass, straight through a cloud. Luckily, the cloud was an inversion layer in the Clinton Valley and we dropped into a brilliantly clear Arthur Valley with gorgeous alpine views. From here the trek was stunning, with a waterfall every mile or so and 6,000 foot granite peaks looming around each bend. That night we went for a walk by ourselves a mile or so back up the trail and found a glow worm colony. These are little worms that glow to attract other insects, which they eat. We got to see 30-40 of them twinkling in the forest understory.

Day 4 was a 5-hour walk out through rainforest, more waterfalls, more peaks, and along the Arthur River. Another ferry took us across the beautiful Milford sound, where we sat for a couple of hours on a jetty waiting for the bus back to town, cooked our last two packets of ramen, and enjoyed the view. 

This is a longer photo album than most, but it seemed appropriate given the stunning scenery around each bend: 

https://plus.google.com/photos/103829313469224560701/albums/6000887032098315297

We camped in Te Anau that night and celebrated the hike with venison, lamb, and a bottle of wine, joined by two German guys we met on the hike. The next day dawned mostly clear, so we decided to head back out

towards Milford Sound and climb Gertrude's Saddle, which affords a bird's-eye view of Milford Sound. It was a very steep climb on tired legs, but well worth it for the views. The scale of the mountains here is hard to capture, but these photos make an attempt:

https://plus.google.com/photos/103829313469224560701/albums/6001165159615058097

We're enjoying this area so much we decided to do another trek, and are headed off on the Kepler Track tomorrow. This time rain is in the forecast, but we're hoping for some clear spells and more great views.