|
a
|
|
- |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well, not
exactly. This was my third—and last—day on the Milford Track, New Zealand’s
gold standard long-distance hike that shows up on the must-do lists of walkers world-wide.
This last day wasn’t the steepest day on the Track (that was yesterday when we went
up and over MacKinnon Pass with a total altitude change of nearly a mile), but at 13 miles
it was the longest. My two heal blisters notwithstanding, day 3 seemed a relatively easy
walk in the park. |
|
neighbors: southeastern Australia and Antarctica), the uniqueness of its plant and animal life (giant prehistoric fern trees; parrots and penguins in the same habitat), and its amazing rainfall (up to 29 feet per year!). Fiordland’s uniqueness stands out in a country full of remarkable regions. So astounding is Fiordland that it has been designated a United Nations World Heritage Area. |
|
|
SOME FLYING THINGS, AND SOME THAT DON'T FLY |
|
|
|
Island beer of the same name. Bush robins—haven’t they heard about the stoats?—were so friendly they would hop up to my boots thinking my laces must be fat worms. As for kiwis—well, I’ve been to New Zealand many times, and kiwis remain only a nocturnal rumor. It was easy finding the world’s only alpine parrot, the kea—it finds you. They wait near the lodges spaced along the Milford Track. When you arrive and hit the showers, they go to work, looking for the boots, clothing or knapsack left outside the cabins by unsuspecting or careless hikers. The kea—with the height and weight of a middling penguin—hops furtively sideways to stalk and ransack |
| anything made
of leather or that might contain a possible kea snack. Duck, nylon,
leather, and, probably, Kevlar, are no match for the scimitar beak of
the hungry, mischievous kea. My sense is that a kea’s culinary
preferences are as unrefined as those of a billy goat. This trickster must be equipped with a cast-iron
stomach. Unlike penguins and goats, however, keas can fly a little. Flying? We were flying along the immaculately groomed, spongy trail, making |
|
|
fast tracks for the 33.5-mile post, the finish line of |
|
the Milford Track at Sandfly Point. My companion was a 30-ish Aussie from Sydney, fit but new to long-distance trekking. Nick had left his fiancé at home in Oz, knowing that she wasn’t the type to put up with three days slogging through one of the wettest places on earth, while having to rough it for four nights in crude hikers’ huts with communal toilets, cold showers, and inedible food. Now, two-and-half days and three nights into it, Nick knew he had made a mistake. The weather had been perfectly dry, and each day offered sunny skies with low, billowy, cumulus clouds that reminded you the ocean was not far away. |
|
|
|
|
|
day the path is moderately steep, rocky, rooty, and, beyond the lower beech forest to the 3,300’ altitude), a narrow (2-feet and less) cutting through dense gorse, bracken, and scrub. Claire might have complained about the 4-hour climb to the pass, but she would have been thrilled by the views of snowcapped mountains and the steep-sided mini-Yosemite Valleys that reward you at the top. The descent from MacKinnon Pass is steeper and hard on tired legs—especially the knees. But once back in the forest the trail becomes a boardwalk tracing a fabulous set of cascading waterfalls that have scoured and polished the granite of these mountains into smoothly rounded kettles and funnels reminiscent |
|
of Henry Moore sculptures. |
LODGES AND OTHER TOUCHES OF CIVILIZATION |
|
|
Nick really knew he had got it wrong
when the finish of each day’s trek led to a comfortable, well-equipped lodge. Grab a
shower, wash and hang your sweaties, then limp down to happy hour in the lounge, and the
finest 3-course meals imaginable this far in the wilderness featuring a choice of two
entrées daily, with soup, salad, and dessert. Beer, wine, and canned soft drinks are the
only extra-cost extras. The New Zealand beer was good, if a little warm due to limited
refrigeration. The disappointment was the wine. New Zealand produces some world class
wines of both colors. The stuff sold by the glass or by the bottle at the lodges was
uniformly bad. The Aussies, Yanks, Brits, and Europeans on the walk drank it, but only the
Kiwis seemed to drink it to excess. I was puzzled by the wine’s inferiority, but
happy not to be hung over on any marching day. |
|
|
and, thankfully, air fresheners and splinter-free TP. Rooms? Bunkhouse style dormitories (no mixed genders) with kids’ camp mattresses, blankets and pillows. For couples, higher rollers, and other privacy-challenged hikers, lodges offer a limited number of private rooms with private bathrooms and showers, but for a not-meaningless supplemental charge. |
|
|
In all cases, hikers must carry a sleep sheet—a polyester cocoon that supposedly separates bodies from blankets, pillows, and mattresses. Not if you’re 6’1". Hikers also need to carry a pack with a change of clothing or two, a wash cloth, hut shoes or sandals, small digital camera, sun block, sun glasses, a hat, gloves, a heavy fleece, and, importantly, raingear. Total pack weight: 25lbs. unless you are like me and carry a heavy camera rig and collapsible tripod or monopod. We were advised to leave our toiletries (supplied at lodges), cotton clothing (heavy and heat-sapping when wet), and make-up (lipstick in |
| the jungle? For whom, Tarzan?) home. Most hikers complied with suggestions one and two. Not one woman—there were 23 women in our group of 50—took suggestion three and left the make-up home. | |
|
SUTHERLAND FALLS |
|
|
|
|
|
|
than half the
time. It was the middle of the third day when Nick and I were making a final push to reach
the 2PM boat at Sandfly Point. We wanted to get to Mitre Peak Lodge at Milford Sound as early as
possible, before they ran out of ice cold beer. We had already streaked past the Japanese
ladies, and a group of 4 or so New Zealand couples who were taking their time. At the
lunch stop we passed the Brits (from London, Wales, and Yorkshire), some other Americans
(a couple of lawyers from DC, and a couple of doctors from MN), a terrific couple from
South Africa via Australia, a nifty senior (oldest in our group) from South Africa via
Switzerland, two French Canadian couples (one via New Caledonia), and several Aussies.
Only the Aussie car dealers were between us and being first to Sandfly Point. It was a
race for hot showers and cold beer. |
|
Milford Track. We were certainly doing 5mph. On a winding section, when I looked up to get my bearings there it was, dangling in front of me at eye level, big as my fist, and hairy, and suspended by a single thread attached to some overhead branch or frond. |
|
|
The poles dug
in. My blistered heals dug in. The brakes went on. But I was top-heavy with a pack full of
camera gear. "Yeeeeeeoooooooowwwww!" That was my primal scream while falling backward into the ditch. |
|
|
something as rare as a kiwi or rain on the Milford Track. |
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
You
can walk the Milford Track inexpensively and independently as "Freedom
Walkers" with your own bedding, without guides, without support,
with adequate but minimal lodging without catering,
using the public hikers’ lodges operated by New
Zealand’s Department of Conservation (DOC). Because
of the popularity of the Milford Track—over 14,000
hikers make the trek each year—you must reserve
lodging in advance year round (camping is not
permitted), from mid-October through April you may
walk only in one direction (northbound from Lake Te
Anau to Milford Sound), and you must do the walk in
the required 4 days and 3 nights (independent) or 5
days and 4 nights (guided). Lugging 3-4 days of food
and the cook pots to prepare it, plus a sleeping bag
is necessary for independent hikers, and cooking,
and washing up is part of each day’s independent
hike on the Milford Track. Public lodges for
independent hikers have
A
better—if significantly more expensive: NZ$1700-NZ$2500/person—way for hikers
looking to trek the Milford Track with convenience, style, and support is via
the 5-day, 4-night guided walk offered by Ultimate Hikes of
Queenstown. Guided walkers pay one price for 5 days of activity
including bus and boat transportation from Queenstown to the Milford Track
trailhead and the boat and 
Few natural spaces are as
uniquely varied as New Zealand.
Home At First offers lodgings
in regions across the length
of New Zealand.
Our exclusive "New Zealand Activities
Guide" has hundreds of suggestions for things to see
and
do when you travel with Home At First
to:
NEW ZEALAND.
-
HOME AT FIRST
offers travel to at least 14 New
Zealand regions using friendly inns,
lodges, upscale bed & breakfasts, and
small hotels to insure your comfort and
provide the ideal base from which to discover each region. See all the sights,
and add activities of your choosing, like walking the fable Milford Track.
Let
HOME AT FIRST
design the New Zealand itinerary perfect for
your pace, your lifestyle, your interests, and your budget.
Request a free
Trip Itinerary Proposal today.
 |
YOUR DREAM TRIP BEGINS BY CONTACTING |
