The Milford Track is a 4 day, 53.5km (33.5m) trek in the heart of the Fiordland national park. Starting from the shores of Lake Te Anua it reaches the height of 1140m on MacKinnon pass before it descends to Sandfly point on Milford sound. Its considered the crown jewel of New Zealand's 'Great Walks' and books up months in advance. So when in September we booked on to the last two spaces for the 30th of October, the third day of the summer season, we were unsure of how our Milford experience was going to pan out.
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| The classic 'Gear' shot |
New Zealand is full of great tramping, so with the title of 'The Finest Walk in the World' The Milford Track has a tough position to fill. There was definitely a mix of virgin 'Great Walk' walkers, like us and 'Great Walk' baggers who had bagged others of the 9 tourist luring 'Great Walks'. So we decided to give a lenient approach for 'the finest walk' and see what the Department Of Conservation (DOC) had to offer us in the form of logisticaly easy tramps and adventures in NZ and with the weather forecasting rain and wind for the most of it, our open minds seemed a good approach.
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| Scenic boat ride |
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| Looking down Lake Te Anua |
It was inevitable, from when we booked on to our first 'Great Walk' that we were going to get wet, especially when its the only one that books up completely and with cancellation fees it gives little room for the weather. Being the biggest national park in NZ and having the highest annual rainfall in the country it has to be experienced once in the rain right? But with an average of 200 days a year of rain and over 7 metres a year maybe it needs to be experienced in good weather too... for us it was wet.
Before we had even reached Fiordland national park we received our first indication of the trip, 'due to the persistent risk of avalanches along the track, the purchase of helicopter transport will need to obtained before departure', just when we thought summer was on its way, a timely reminder that this was only the third day in the season. A quick YouTube of Milford sound road avalanches settled our negative thoughts and anyway a $95 ride was at least cheaper than the touristy Queenstown ones.
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| Looking up Lake Te Anua |
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| A Black Robin seeing if we would offer any food |
The adventure started with an hour boat trip up lake Te Anua, with free tea and coffee, spectacular lake views and local history and tales from the skipper made the time drifted by as we left civilisation and onto the shores of the wild. The 5km to the first (Clinton) hut was a relaxed warm up to the days that followed. Well maintained tracks made for easy going and holding 4km/h is an easy task, but why rush? The DOC timings are for 3km/h and after photo, snack and tomfoolery stops we seemed to be roughly on time. We had been warned about the sandfly's on a number of occasions, but on arriving at the hut and having what seemed like swarm's appear around faces and boots, we knew that not buying repellant could have been a big mistake. Once inside the roomy and comfortable hut we soon forgot the impending annoyance that waited outside. One concern we had just prior to starting the trek was the amount of time at the huts, with an average of only 6 hours walking a day. Even though there seemed like there was going to be a lot of down time, after a couple of chats with different people, a card game, a quick hunt for kiwi's and a trip to see some glow worms the night was soon getting late.
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| The first swing bridge |
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| Swinging |
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| Ferns |
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| The biggest hoola hoop I've ever done |
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| A wet night shot |
The second day started with an unneeded early start, for 6 hours of walking an 8:30 leave was a little too keen, but we were heading into the heart of Fiordland and excitement doesn't work around clock times. 16km of steep sided, glacier carved panoramas lay between the Clinton and Minatora hut. This is were the avalanches threatened us the most, with regular reminders that we were crossing avalanche paths, the pace was steady. Although there was no snow on the ground around us, the threat was from the snow fields 1000 metres above us, hidden out of view by the steep walls and waterfalls. In between the avalanche cleared meadows which offered the scenic views of the impressive valley, thick jungle like woodland filled the valley. Once when walking round a corner I spooked what I instinctively thought was a pheasant, but after the split second of me jumping out of my skin and a whirl of feathers, I realised that it was the bird I was most looking forward to seeing, a Kea. Despite my best bird calls and waving of shiny things the gang of five mountain parrots aimlessly looked on at me from their tree top perch. Intermittent rain cleared for a couple of hours for the evening, which gave us the chance for some night time photography and kiwi hunting, while a few of the group headed for MacKinnon pass for a view of sunset.
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| View up the valley |
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| A reminder |
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| A cheeky Kea |
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| Impressive |
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| Lucky duck giving us blue skies |
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| A dry night shot |
Waking on the third day to uninspiring whether gave low motivation to leave the hut. This day promised to give the highlight of the trek, the highest point giving great views if the whether permits, followed by a descent to the Arther valley and an optional side trip to Sutherland Falls. As we ascended into the rain and clouds, we left the thick woodland and onto the snow tussocks of the alpine pass. Despite the 24 hours spent on the planes and the months already in New Zealand, whilst walking along the path on the pass with no more than 30 metres visibility, we had a moment or two of 'we could be walking in the Lake District right now and we wouldn't be able to tell...' that was until the giant 800m shoulder of Mt Balloon appeared through the clouds. Reaching the pass shelter gave a sigh of relief for everyone that day, the wind was cold and the rain persistent but the real challenge of the day was still ahead. The climb to the pass from the hut was 500 vertical metres but the descent to the next hut was 1000m of wet and sometimes slippy rocks and some amazingly crafted wooden walk ways. Needless to say the knees had a beating that day. Even with the uninspiring views of clouds from the pass, the hour and a half side trip to Sutherland Falls had to be taken, especially as you can leave your bag at a shelter to pick up on your return. The bright side to all this rain was the waterfalls, they were appearing everywhere and approaching the colossal 580m Sutherland Falls, we were greeted with a drenching spray and a powerful roar. Standing beside the base of the roaring waterfall, drenched down to my thermals was easily the highlight of my trip and the buzz from that high lasted the next couple of hours until the hut talk from the ranger. "No one is to leave the hut tomorrow morning until I give the go ahead" were the words that instantly changed the psyche of the trip.
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| Mt Cook Buttercup |
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| Mt Balloon appearing briefly |
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| Sutherland Falls with a big smile |
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| Trying my luck |
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| Sutherland Falls |
The next day by 7:30am everyone is packed, eagerly waiting the call and it comes with the classic good and bad news. The storm is delayed till the afternoon but the road out of Milford is closed and it's almost certain that we'll be spending the night in Milford Sound... From the off this was going to be a sprint finish but the scenery and waterfalls still managed to distract us from the impending storm enough to stop and enjoy our position. Being British I like to think I know what rain and storms feel like but i now know 150mm at 22mm an hour feels biblical. Compared to London's 601mm annual rain this storm had a monsoon presence that relentlessly pounded our waterproofs till we were soaked to the bone. On top of the soaking, as we approached the final few kilometres we even got a light and sound performance from thunder and lightning that bounced down the valley. Needless to say when we arrived at the final shelter we were relieved to be out of the adventure and ready to make our way back to civilisation, or the semi civilisation that is Milford Sound, but little did we know the NZ adventure wasn't done with us yet.
The Milford Track is perfectly framed by two boat journeys, one into and one out of the wild, hard to access valleys. This in fine weather would give you the chance to allow your mind to adjust to and from trail life, but just as we started our journey back into normality we left the sheltered waters of Sandfly point and what seemed like lined up ground swell straight from the Tasman sea. The whoops and whails of enjoyment soon seemed to turn to nervous glances to the shore, as people calculated the swimming distance. The rollercoaster soon seemed to taper off and when we finally arrived at the dock we were greeted by a ferry terminal that looked battered down for a hurricane.
The next 20 hours were spent in a very windswept Milford Lodge, with food, beer, wine and a restless night sleep. The road closures report seemed to be stuck on repeat; road closed, reassess at another time. So when 10:30 came the next morning with a road open announcement the adventure had decided its self that it was time to end.
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| Wet |
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| Waterfalls everywhere |
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| Job done, almost... |
Our first GW of NZ had started with a benign two days, which wandered up through impressive scenery and into the next two days of full on NZ adventure, with wind, rain, closed roads and snow on the tops. Its given me the impression that the touristy GW will give us a nice and pleasant trip if coupled with fair whether but if tackled with poor weather will give us the 'character building' NZ adventure that many people our after in the back country, just with the added support of rangers, well maintained trails and serviced huts. I personally changed my opinion halfway through the trek, from a tourist attraction that I had willingly fallen for into a worth while trek for all abilities and would recommend it for anyone who can justify the price to themselves and regardless of a few people missing flights and buses everyone else seemed to have a good time too.
