Milford Track

Over the weekend, I took a rather spontaneous trip to Fiordland National Park to do the Milford Track, one of New Zealand's famous "great walks". At the end of April, the great walks season ends meaning that trampers and students like myself can have access to the track and the huts at a cost far less that what tourists pay during the summer season. Of course, there is a risk that at this time of year, weather can make the tracks impassable. Early last week we saw that the weather report for the weekend wasn't completely rubbish so we decided to go for it! 

We left Dunedin for Te Anau on Thursday night and spent the night at a backpacker so we could be ready for our early transport to the trail head. The first phase of our journey was a short shuttle ride to the wharf and  then and hour on Lake Te Anau to the beginning of the track. Here is the lake and our little boat:

The weather was a bit gray and overcast for our first day on the trail, but we pushed past the first hut and on through the Clinton Valley for 22km. It was neat being one of only a handful of groups on the track this weekend. What is normally one of New Zealand's most popular tourist destinations we got to have all to ourselves...

The hut we stayed at was a great time. Eventually two other groups, a couple from Slovakia and a group of five Otago students rolled to keep us company during the cold night. Here is a picture of Courtland outside the hut.  

And here is a picture of our other companions, Cecilia and Amandine. 

 Day two of our journey brought us up Mackinnon Pass - the highest point on the track with spectacular views of the valleys on either side. Heeding the advice of the DOC warden, Shane, we made for the pass early in the morning and were rewarded with about 20 minutes of clear weather and a few patches of blue sky before the clouds came down upon us and we had rain for the rest of the day!

The view down Clinton Valley from Mackinnon Pass. 

 Despite the rain, we trudged on another couple of hours to Dumpling hut, making a stop along the way to ditch out packs and do a side track to Sutherland Falls, the tallest waterfall in New Zealand. This is just the lowest of 3 levels of the falls that go up 580 meters in total.

On the last day of hiking, the track follows the Arthur river into Milford sound. We got so lucky and only had a few sprinkles of rain the entire day. We even got a nice rainbow (poorly photographed below) as we crossed one of the bridges and all the rain meant the waterfalls were full and gorgeous. 

Here is a shot of me in front of Mackay Falls (raincoat on, but beginning to dry out at this point). 

It was a little overcast again by the time we reached Milford Sound, but it was still a fantastic destination. 

Many feet have trekked this 33.5 mile journey to Sandfly point (even in late Autumn the sandflies were voracious!), and our tiered feet welcomed the short journey via raft to the Milford Sound village where our transport met us to take us on a fantastic ride through the divide and back to Te Anau.