Milford Trek and Sound: A Tale of Water and Gravity

Paul and Zhiling made another attempt at being One with nature.  We finally got a little holiday time during our stay at Gore.  We decided to take on one of the Great Walks of New Zealand.  Nestled within the World Heritage Site, known as the Fiordlands National Park, the Milford Trek is known to be the "Finest Walk in the World."  We started our trip out driving to Te Anau and picking up a bus that took us to Te Anau Downs where we caught a ferry to the beginning of the trek at Glade Wharf.  To go with the theme for the whole walk, it was already raining.  Zhiling kept singing the theme song to Gilligan's Island... "The weather started getting rough.  The tiny ship was tossed.  If it wasn't for the fearless crew, the tiny ship would be lost." 

The first part of the trek was the shortest day, as we only had 5km to go to reach Clinton Hut.  We saw some wetlands that day and moss-covered forest.  We also began taking pictures of waterfalls, as we were as of yet unaware that these waterfalls would be EVERYWHERE in the next couple days.  We settled in at Clinton and got to meet our fellow trekkers there.  They included 2 New Zealanders, 1 German, 1 Australian, another American couple, and 5 young American college students travelling as a group.  That evening we had a ranger talk by Ranger Ross, who instructed us on the many ways of the Fiordlands and why the evils stoats had to all die (for those of you who are unaware they are weasel-like creatures that were accidentally introduced to New Zealand and kill all the predator-naive flightless native birds).  He also talked to us about glow worms (but not Teddy Ruxpin...tell me that somebody gets this reference, please), which happened to have a small colony just a little further down the trek.  We subsequently went to visit the glow worms and they were as cool if not cooler then fireflies.  They looked like LED lights that were stuck in the dirt.   Up close they resembled something like rice vermicelli.  Mmmmm.

Day #2 on the trail became more realistic of what our experience was going to be like.  We were planning to average 14-15km a day to get to each hut.  Day #2 also began and ended with rain, with rain in the middle as well.  Good for waterfalls.  Bad for staying dry.  The waterfalls were splendiforous and plentiful.  We walked through the "plains" area which was surrounded by high mountains, and you could easily view a dozen, thousand-foot tall waterfalls cascading down around us in one view.  When we arrived at Mintaro Hut, luckily a couple trekkers were ahead of us and had already started the wood stove fire.  As hikers arrived we all began to collect our wet socks, and boots to dry around the fire.  Paul and I munched on sausage and cheese, along with some tuna on chappati for our evening meal.  Ranger "Catie Pie" discussed with us the upcoming weather warnings for the next day or two.  There seemed to be a moderate to high avalanche risk for the next day along the trek through the mountain pass. So, as it was, a helicopter ride was likely in our near future.

Day #3, waiting... and watching lots of rain fall from the sky.  We arose early (7:30am) so we could sit around and wait for news about our upcoming ascent of the mountain.  We spent a lot of time nerding it out with the other trekkers as we discussed various sci-fi films and LOTR characters in front of the wood stove.  Around 11am, we finally got word that they had arranged helicopters to take us to the peak of the mountain pass.  As we got into to the chopper, high winds were blowing all through Mackinnon Pass.  It tossed and turned our helicopter, and many were concerned about what a close view we were getting of the mountainside walls.  But we made it to the peak.  Our gear, however, did get rather saturated as it was hauled up in the final run by the helicopter and was actually air dropped to us at the top of the pass.  Downwards we went from there, having to tramp through a couple snowy passages.  Zhiling felt like the wind was going to blow her over the steep cliffs a couple times, so she held on dearly to her walking sticks.  Paul continued to romp down the mountains in goat-like fashion, until his right knee began to throb and make him want to die...   Besides that there were some beautiful scenery, with alpine flowers, moss covered trees, and plentiful mountain streams.  The streams indeed became quite rain-engorged, and there were many parts of the trail that involved basically plunging ankle deep into them and following them down their course.   Our wool socks (as well as the rest of us) certainly got soaked that day.  We finally staggered our way into Dumpling Hut and collapsed.  We did however get to see our first flightless bird, the Kea. 

 Day #4, we once again hurried up to wait, as we had been warned of HEAVY rain for the day...though certainly we felt like we had already been hiking through HEAVY rain for the last 3 days.  There had been pictures on the Department of Conservation (DOC) website about people having to wade through waist-deep waters at certain parts of the trail, and today could be one of those days.   Ranger Amanda seemed to delight in telling us that we should be enjoying the rain, as the Fiordlands receive rain 280 days out of the calender year.  We were finally allowed to leave the hut at close to 9:00am, leaving us 5hrs to do the 18km of the last day.  We were to follow Ranger Amanda for the first part of the trek towards Boat Shed where we would assess the water level.  Paul told me that he would inflate his pants (Bear Grylls style) and allow me to float on his back should the water get too high.  When we arrived at Boat Shed, we had to ford through, at most, ankle-deep water.  So our guided tour ended, and we were again allowed to depart on our own.  A little more down trail we got to explore MacKay Falls and Bell Rock.  Bell Rock was this large boulder that had been hollowed out by some sort of natural process, and you could crawl under it and then stand up inside.  Paul had a rave party in there with his red head lamp.  Then back on to the trail we went...trying to go at full speed, with Paul's bad knee and Zhiling's painful feet.  Zhiling did however make a wise choice at the beginning of the day by setting aside her hiking boots (which were not properly broken in as she unfortunately found out on this trek) and wearing her sandals instead.  It was quite exhilarating to stick one's feet in cold stream water but her feet did get a bit torn up (and bloodied)...but at least there were no soppy socks to deal with (which Paul wished he could say).  

Exactly 5hrs later, with 18km behind us, at 2PM we arrived at Sandfly Point.  A boat waited there for us to take us back to Milford.  We had made it... 33.4 miles in 4 days (minus whatever we helicoptered over).  We were done....

But wait, there's more!  When we got to the Milford Wharf, we asked around about how to get to Milford Lodge, where we were staying that night.  Unfortunately the lodge was a 1km, or ANOTHER 20min, walk away...with our packs... in the rain.   Fantastic.   When we did finally get to Milford Lodge, our first order of business was a hot shower!  Our room REEKED as we aired out our various well-used supplies.   

The next day, we managed to haul our aching bodies out of bed in order to make the trek down to the Wharf again in time to catch our tour boat for Milford Sound.  Milford Sound may indeed be one of the most beautiful locations on the planet.  Any direction that you look, you can see something absolutely gorgeous.  The rain, by this point, had calmed to a steady drizzle...just enough to fuel a plethora of waterfalls that cascaded into the Sound all around us.  We had a more civilized viewing of nature this time, as we sat comfortably inside the warm boat sipping hot coffee.  We did, however, manage to get outside of the warm cabin for most of the trip, as the available photogenic material was fairly overwhelming.  Both Bowen and Sterling Falls (the 2 permanent waterfalls of the Sound) were amazing, and the boat traveled right up to the latter so that the spray would have soaked us were it not for the rain gear they provided.  We also were lucky enough to see seals, appropriately on "Seal Rock", and bottlenose dolphins.  We took nearly 200 photos of these and the perpetually mist-shrouded mountains around the Sound...all in the space of 2 hours.  This is a place of highly-condensed beauty:-)

From there, we traveled back East to have our first experience at the tourist-trap known as Queenstown.  A tourist-trap it may be, but there is a reason that people flock to this location.  Lake Wakatipu is a pristine, gorgeously blue lake set against emerald-green mountains.  There is also Mexican food;-)  Awesome.  We spent a leisurely day and a half wandering the streets of the off-season hub of tourism.  We shopped (i.e. Zhiling shopped...yay!).  We ate well.  We wine tasted...including from a $755 bottle of wine (which actually wasn't as good as the $29 bottle near it).  Paul, as directed by Zhiling so that she could shop unimpeded, went for a Thai massage, where he was bent like a preztel by a middle-aged Thai woman...marvelous.  Unfortunately, the revelry was cut short, as Zhiling and Paul were required back at work the next day...for 1 day, prior to the weekend.  So our rain-soaked holiday ended.

New Zealand Travel Tip #6: Even if the brochure shows only sunny scenes, with 280 days of rain out of the year, you had better bring your rain gear.