Fri February 22- On this first day of 'the Chamberlains in New Zealand' we were allowed to sleep in a little bit! All of us were tired; Peter and Shelley after a long flight and we after 'hutting' the last three nights. Well rested we started our day with a morning walk around Moke Lake. A beautiful lake just outside Queenstown. As we were making our way around the lake the clouds disappeared; perfect conditions for our afternoon jet-boating trip! We had a quick lunch in Glenorchy and checked in at the "Dart River Experience" office. We boarded the jet-boat and jetted up the Dart River into the Mount Aspiring National Park. We got close to where we started the Routeburn Track - only difference between then and now was the weather! We had spectacular crystal clear mountain-views from the jet-boat! And jet-boating itself is a ton of fun as well! Back in Queenstown we closed the day in style with a delicious dinner at the Botswana Butchery.
Sat February 23- On (or back) to Te Anau! We packed up the 2001 Nissan Wingroad station-wagon (tight fit!) and left Queenstown. As we drove the 2 hours to Te Anau it got cloudier and the cloud-cover seemed persistent. Once in the town we took our time. We had coffee and cake (a Muskee family tradition) and went to the grocery store. Luckily, when we walked out of the store it had magically cleared! We quickly dropped off our stuff and groceries at the Dusky Ridges B&B and drove to The Divide to climb up Key Summit (we had been on Key Summit when we hiked the Routeburn). Maurits goofed by not checking the fuel gauge and after about 25 minutes we turned around and drove back to Te Anau for much needed gas... Whoops!!
Maurits was not the only one to 'goof' though... Laura Beth once packed up lunch and left the bread at home, Peter lost his baseball cap and Shelley turned the fridge down a little too much and froze all the food inside!
With an hour delay we arrived at The Divide around 4pm. Our 1-hour hike up Key Summit is best described as "little effort and great reward." The scenery on this clear day was amazing! We felt incredibly lucky to have such excellent weather. Very content we made our way down to the car and drove back to Dusky Ridges B&B. A beautiful B&B set on a huge sheep-farm just outside Te Anau. Shelley had picked well!
Sun February 24- After an early rise we were on the 7:30 boat to Doubtful Sound. This was our second time to Doubtful Sound. On our previous (separate) trips to New Zealand, we had both seen the Sound in rainy weather. Today however was going to be majestic! As we crossed Lake Manapouri towards the hydro-power-plant, the morning mist dissipated and a clear blue sky appeared! We got an interesting tour of the power-plant that runs mainly on rain-water. Instead of damming a river and creating a lake, which destroys the vegetation, this hydro-power-plant uses an existing river that gets its water from lakes Te Anau and Manapouri. Apparently New Zealand's greatest engineering feat! The bus continued on the power-plant-road to Doubtful Sound where we boarded the boat. The weather was unreal as we set out on our cruise. Doubtful Sound gets about 9 meters (30 feet) of rain annually, but today the captain apologized for the lack of waterfalls... somehow we did not care too much about waterfalls... The captain did scare us with an announcement that one of the engines was not working and that we had to turn around! But luckily the ship's mate (the bus driver) got engine number 2 working again and we continued the cruise. The scenery was absolutely awesome. The sound (fiord) is flanked by steep green mountains and has many side-arms that we cruised through. Captain Cook was 'doubtful' that he could sail out of the sound, hence its name. We saw some dolphins and seals and had a great time scenery-watching. What a great day!!
After the cruise we did the reverse trip of bussing and boating back to our car in Manapouri. We drove back to Te Anau where we picked up our Milford Track tickets from the DOC and did some last groceries for the trek. We packed our bags for our 4 day Milford adventure and Peter made breakfast (omelets) for dinner.
Mon February 25- Milford Track Day 1
Our Milford Track adventure started 293 days ago when we booked the popular track. Today we would finally embark on "the finest walk in the world," a 55 kilometer-long track that connects Lake Te Anau and Milford Sound. The track is pretty restrictive; it can only be walked in one direction, hikers must stay 3 nights and only 40 people can start per day.
At first Shelley had wanted to do the guided (expensive) option of the Milford Track. For a hefty fee a company called Ultimate Hikes provides guides, lodges, real food, beds with sheets, cold beer and hot showers. We thought it would be more fun to do it the 'real' way. Maurits had walked the track back in 2004 and was confident that Shelley could make it. We would also carry most of the weight and do the food planning. After hearing our stories about snorers in bunk rooms, sandfly-invested freezing swimming holes, warm wine, tasteless food and lots of rain with no views, Shelley immediately signed up for the LB&M guided trek!
With 4 backpacks, varying in size, we left the comfort of Dusky Ridges and drove 20 minutes to Te Anau Downs. We caught the 10:30 ferry across Lake Te Anau to the trailhead at Glade Wharf. The morning mist disappeared quickly and the hour boat ride turned into a wonderful little cruise! It was once again a cloudless day and we wondered for how much longer this would last... We met quite a few other walkers on the boat that we would be spending the next 3 nights with. Among them was a group of 4 young adults that had won "New Zealand's 9 Great Walks in 9 weeks," a contest held by Air New Zealand and Kathmandu (outdoor store). The three men and one woman from Australia, UK, Japan and USA all have inspiring life stories (e.g. overcoming cancer and obesity). They were starting their third great walk accompanied by a ranger, a cameraman and an Air NZ representative. See http://greatwalker.theflyingsocialnetwork.com/ for more details.
Around noon we docked and started the Milford Track. Our first day was an easy 5 kilometers following the Clinton River up the Clinton Valley to the Clinton Hut. After an enjoyable walk we got to the beautifully situated hut and chose our bunk-beds carefully. We tried to go for a swim in the river, but the water was just too cold.
Before dinner the hut-ranger held a nature walk and talked about the different animals, trees and plants. For instance, interesting to hear about the lans-wood tree that changes leaf-shape as it grows taller. The ranger was also entertaining with bad jokes like: "What is the difference between a stoat and a weasel? A weasel is stoatally different!" ... The worst kiwi joke we heard was about beech trees. During the jet-boat trip a guide explained the different type of beech trees. There are red beeches, silver beeches, mountain beeches and sons of beeches ... Indeed a classic!
We drank some fine cabernet from a bag and had a meal of pasta with canned chicken and fresh vegies in the hot hut. Before heading to our plastic wrapped mattresses we talked to quite a few of our fellow trampers. A fun group!
Tue February 26- Milford Track Day 2
Our first night in the hut was actually better than expected! It was rather warm, but not too loud. We packed up, had a delicious breakfast of oatmeal with muesli and were on the track by 8. Like yesterday, we walked up the Clinton Valley and followed the Clinton River. We walked mostly through forest, but we also had many excellent views. We saw 'wee' waterfalls, trees that we had learned about, a hidden lake, 3 kea's, some old remains of the telephone line that used to follow the Milford Track and quite a few ducks and birds. The weather was fine, high level clouds and not too hot. All in all a lovely day! We got to Mintaro hut around 2 pm and had lunch out on the porch.
The weather forecast for tomorrow was not good; it was supposed to be cloudy and rainy on the day that we would cross Mackinnon Pass. Since it would only take about 1.5 hour to walk up the pass, we left Peter and Shelley in the hut and walked up. It was cloudy on top of Mackinnon, but the views were still great with beautiful Fiordland mist on all the peaks around us. The best thing was that we were the only ones on the pass, which made it a very tranquil experience. Well worth the effort!
Back at the hut we served Peter and Selley a fine dinner of couscous with peanut butter and fresh vegetables. Of course accompanied by fine red wine. We had a fun evening in the hut talking to the other walkers, especially Shelley loved it!
Wed February 27- Milford Track Day 3
DRAMA during the night! Peter miss-stepped when he went to the 'facilities' and tore off his big toenail! Ooouuuch!! He only told us in the morning and Laura Beth fixed him up as well as possible. A little anxious about Peter's walking abilities we left the hut just after 8.
The good thing was that the weather had decided not to follow the forecast - it was a crystal clear day! Peter (and Shelley for that matter) did great the whole day. First we climbed 550 meters to the top of Mackinnon Pass and then we descended 1,000 meters to Dumpling Hut. The views from Mackinnon were spectacular! We were so lucky with the weather... Unreal! It was a long descent down the Arthur Valley, but the scenery was gorgeous and we saw some beautiful waterfalls! Unfortunately the track to Sutherland Falls (the highest in New Zealand) was closed due to a rockslide earlier in the season, so we had to skip this side-trip. Tired, we arrived at Dumpling Hut around 4pm. We tried to go for a swim in the Arthur River, but the water was too cold and the sandflies were horrendous! We hung out in the hot hut and played the card-game hearts. To prepare Shelley and Peter a little bit for their upcoming trip to Thailand, we made spicy thai chicken for dinner! We should have made the spicy dinner yesterday night when it was a lot cooler...
Thu February 28- Milford Track Day 4
The last night in the hut was another hot one! We would have been fine without bringing a sleeping bag. We got up in the dark and were on the trail by 7:30. Today we walked for a little less than 6 hours, down the Arthur Valley and following the river with the same name. Quite an easy trail today, but in general the Milford track was harder than the Kepler and Routeburn. We passed some beautiful waterfalls and crawled underneath a bell-shaped rock. Pretty tired, thus happy, we arrived at Sandfly Point; the end of the Milford track! Kudos to Peter and Shelley!
We got on the 2pm ferry to Milford and left the scenery of steep mountains, green temperate rainforest, valleys, waterfalls, rivers, birds and sandflies behind us. We had a beautiful little cruise across Milford Sound and boarded the Tracknet bus back to our car. Around 4:30 we were back at Dusky Ridges B&B and ready for a shower. We celebrated, but not with pizza and beer. Instead Peter and Shelley took us to the Red Cottage for a classy and delicious dinner! :-)
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