Milford Track Blog

The Milford Track is utterly as good as the hype. Rather than write a full five day blow by blow account here is a bunch of photographs, organised by day, with the occasional helpful caption. Enjoy!

Day 1:

After a long coach trip and boat trip we arrived at the start of the track in the rain

After a very short walk we arrived at our lodge for the night.  The sun came out later.

Day 2:

A misty cloudy day, but the cloud was still high enough to get glimpses of the peaks.

New Zealand Robin

Amazing temperate rainforest

A board walk optional side trip across some wetlands

We came out of the forest for a bit where there had been a big land slip a number of years ago

The Clinton River valley

Day 3:

After a crazily early start we began to climb...

The cirque at the head of the Clinton River Valley

Climbing up and up

One of the lakes at the top of the McKinnon Pass

The Kea - these will steal your lunch, even if it is zipped up in your bag

A panorama on top - it really was a loo with a view.

Steps on the route down

The Sutherland Falls - the reason the track was made in the first place.

Day 4:

More incredible rainforest

The boat shed - a morning drinks refuge from the sandflies

The Arthur River Valley

The four Japanese ladies in our party, complete with nets. 

Mixed feelings at the last mile marker

Our boat to Milford Sound at the end of the walk

Mitre Peak Lodge - our final resting place.

Mitre Peak and Milford Sound.  Mitre Peak is the one that looks a tiny bit like a bishop's mitre.  Apparently.

Helen made it.  So did James - he took the photo.

Day 5:  The morning boat cruise on Milford Sound - our reward for finishing!

Next, The Routeburn Track. We will be offline again for a few days. 

Bye bye camper van

We woke up to bright sunshine ready for our whale watch trip but… out to sea there were gale force winds, so all the morning’s boats were cancelled.

We jumped back in the van and headed inland away from the gales to Hanmer Springs.  This is a massive tourist trap, but a really nice one!  Because of our early morning whale disappointment we got to Hanmer before lunch, in good time to pack up sandwiches and get out for a walk.  We climbed Mount Isobel just behind the town.  It was very hot, but really beautiful.  Lots of mountains around, as well as some wide river valleys.  It turned out to be quite a long walk, with a lot of ascent (the mountain is over 1300m), but totally worth it. 

It also meant we could have a guilt-free trip to the hot springs afterwards.  These are fake pools but some of them do have genuine thermal spring water in them.  It is like a big outdoor Centre Parcs swimming complex, but with better slides.  And a café that does decent burgers.

The next morning we made it to church – a lovely little wooden Anglican church that was packed out because there was a massive family reunion who supplied 30 of the visitors.  The vicar was from Warrington.  Afterwards they served what looked to be mincemeat pies, but turned out to be minced meat pies.  Not complaining.

After lunch it seemed appropriate to take the bikes out for one last time.  What could possibly go wrong?  Nothing, at first.  It was a bit hot, to be sure, but we went along our chosen circuit at a nice pace, stopping at Waiau for some wonderful ice creams.  Then we hit a massive headwind for the remaining 20km of our ride.  James still hasn't recovered.

Then we had to do our laundry, pack and spend our last night in the van.

We are now at a Chinese/Irish B&B in Christchurch, having delivered the van back.  They were really chilled out and didn't even do an inspection.  After nearly a month it felt like there should have been a bit more ceremony about the handover.

Tomorrow morning we fly to Queenstown for our briefing ahead of our ‘great walks’.  We’re doing the Milford and Routeburn Tracks in combination.  While on these our connectivity will be almost nothing – so don’t panic if you don’t hear from us!  Hopefully it won’t rain too much – but it is Fiordland – over 6000mm (that’s 6 metres) of rain a year.

Some photos from our trip up Mount Isobel:

Swimming In The Sea

Here we are in Kaikoura. It is wet. Again. However tomorrow it will be sunny and we are going to play with whales. Yes, more wildlife.

Abel Tasman got even better. We booked into a holiday park which was also a farm and took a water taxi a substantial distance along the coast to walk part of the Abel Tasman great walk. The taxi ride also involved a bit of a nature cruise including yet another feeding Little Blue Penguin. James properly saw this one.

 The beaches are incredible here, especially when the tide is out and there are many many lagoons. This walk was hot! And we took a swim in Apple Tree Bay just before the end. Most of the walk was under the shade of beautiful forest. Pretty much a perfect day out.

We followed it up with a morning sunning ourselves on Kaiteriteri beach before hiring paddle boards for a bit and burning James’ shoulders. To round things off we then took the bikes onto a local mountain bike park where we discovered that we are not intermediate level mountain bikers.

As evening drew in we took to the road, pausing at Nelson for tea, and ending up at Marfells beach campsite in the dark at about 10pm. This turned out to be totally worth it as we had a wonderful beach walk towards Cape Campbell right outside our door this morning. 

We then headed to our current position hoping to do a whale watch cruise this afternoon but they have all been called off for bad weather! I think the whales must have gone to Abel Tasman where it is hot.  Anyway, we will try again tomorrow. Only three more sleeps until we hand the van back.

The entire West Coast

Imagine if you will, a windswept coastline on your left, and towering mountains on your right.

Because we had to, as for the past day its been chucking it down and blowing a gale and we can’t actually see any of the views.

To fill you in on events since our last posting. We saw the stars! At lake pukaki after the sun went down, the stars came out. It was glorious. We have now properly the seen the southern cross.

James swimming at Wanaka

From the lake shore we ventured over to the west coast and stopped at Fox Glacier. Take a look at a map and you will see that this is quite a long drive, so we stopped (in glorious sunshine) at Wanaka for lunch where James got to swim in the Lake. Under what he thought was mount Aspiring but apparently wasn’t.  Then another moochy afternoon along the Haast pass stopping at various cool sights on the way. Including the blue pools (which are transparent) and Thunder Creek falls. The afternoon was made slightly less moochy because of the landslip under the main state highway which reduced it to one shared lane, and the road was closed from 6pm. The traffic control was a very theatrical young man with a pole.

Fox Glacier is quite a place. After arriving quite late we were fortunate to have a non raining day to spend on a guided tour of the glacier. It is one of the few glaciers in the world where you can just walk up to it. In just 20 minutes from the car park! It’s a fascinating place. There were rock falls happening on the valley constantly while we were on the glacier. And it is only in the last week that the glacier has retreated to a point where the guides can take you straight up the front of it, rather than walking alongside then dropping down. They took us into ice caves, down crevasses and stood us next to really big scary holes. A fantastic day out.

Lake Matheson

And the day was long from over! We fitted in a trip to Lake Matheson which is a famous beauty spot. The Lake reflects Mount Cook and Mount Tasman perfectly in the water. On the three days of the year when it is both still and clear.  And after this (and a lovely three course meal) we went on a free glow worm walk. This is a beautifully surreal experience. Tiny dots of light all through the forest.

There's a glacier there somewhere...

Today we have set off up the west coast, and have arrived at Punakaiki where there are some famous pancake rocks which we hope to see after tea time. It has been belting with rain all the way up here. We decided it would be a good idea to walk out to Franz Josef Glacier as we were passing. It was beyond wet. The DOC were just closing the path out as it was getting dangerous. Here is the one photo we managed to snap before racing back. We haven’t checked yet whether there is or isn’t a glacier showing. Also the very handy drying room on our van is broken so our trip to the rocks tonight could be quite soggy.

Once again don’t when we’ll post this as we have neither wifi or mobile signal!

…. And is taken so here’s an update. We made it to the pancakes rocks which are yet again another unique New Zealand experience. Several blow holes in strangely shaped and layered rocks which blast ocean water into the air. We went again at the next high tide the following morning and they were in even more spectacular form, throwing spray over the viewing areas. Then from nothing a freezing cold shower driven by extreme wind blew in making a mockery of our decision to wear jeans. We legged it for the van to dry off, then had very tasty pancakes in the local café. Pancakes at Pancake Rocks. Who would have thought.

The rest of the day went like this.  We drove to a seal colony then we drove to Westport to get the heater fixed (it wasn’t) and had baked potatoes and a magnum then we drove inland to the old ghost road and then we had dinner in a sand fly infested camp ground then we drove along a beautiful but tiring river gorge road to lake Rotoroa where we camped for the night.

And now we are at Abel Tasman. This is like being not just in a different country but in a different part of the planet. IT IS SO HOT. And sunny. And no rain. And the beaches are amazing. We’ve already done a bit of a bike ride at the nearby town of Motueka and swum in the sea here at Marahau. We are here for a couple of days at least. Lets see what turns up!

Underneath the Fox Glacier

Thundercreek falls

Sandy Bay, Abel Tasman

Some time in Central New Zealand

And tonight’s campsite…

That is Mount Cook in the background.  We’re writing this blog now waiting for the stars to come out, because there are no streetlights for miles, and not many clouds for a change.  Problem is, it takes a very, very long time to get dark.

Back to where we left off.  At Moke Lake we decided to do a combined cycle and walk along the moonlight track.  The cycling was great until a massive down and uphill, but generally it was high up the side of a beautiful valley.  We dumped the bikes on a steep hill and walked up towards Ben Lomond.  This turned out to be a lot further than we expected, but eventually we made it to the viewpoint over Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu.

On our way down we were nearly back at our bikes when we met a couple of other cyclists, Edwin and Mattheus.  Edwin had broken his hire bike chain miles from anywhere.  James and Helen to the rescue!  We couldn’t fix the chain, but we could give them a magnum and a ride into Queenstown.  Aren’t we great.

The following morning it was pouring with rain so we drove to Lake Wanaka to a luxurious campsite with FREE WIFI and a spa/sauna.  We stopped at Arrowtown on the way there – so did all the other tourists.  In the evening it cleared up enough for a stroll by the lake.

The path down below

Yesterday we set off on another epic, this time a bit shorter and better prepared.  We climbed Roys Peak – 1300m of ascent.  We’re quite proud of that.  We’re not proud of being overtaken by almost everyone else on the mountain including 3 lads in skinny jeans with only a bottle of water each.  We got soaked on the way down but the views from the top were superb.

In the evening we went to see the Hobbit again.  This time in 2D so that we could actually see what was going on.  Really quirky cinema – Cinema Paradiso – they include an intermission to sell freshly baked homemade cookies and ice cream.  They also do an excellent pizza.

On the way home we were finally up late enough on a clear enough night to see some stars, including the Southern Cross.

Finally on to today.  A lot of driving but worth it.  We drove to Lake Tekapo, which is a stunning blue.  To get there we crossed enormous plains with mountains around the edge.  At the lake is an observatory with a café.   After lunch we drove a bit further and got the bikes out for a cycle down the side of the lake down a gravel road – surprisingly hard work!  It was great though.

Now we have driven some of the way back towards Wanaka (and therefore the West Coast, our next destination) and have found a free camping spot on the shore of lake Pukaki.  Mount Cook is right at the head of the lake, and we’ve taken a million photos.

Word of the day: blue

Some time in Fiordland

Hey everybody! Who knows when you’ll get to read this. We’re “off grid” at the moment. Right now we’re sipping white wine while gazing out of our campervan window at a wonderful mountain lake, with mountains in the background. If we ever find some decent public wifi here is a picture. If not, just imagine it.

If you’re following us on a map, this is Lake Moke. We’ve driven just beyond Queenstown.

But how did we get here? What HAVE we been doing? Does Doubtful sound live up to the hype?

To answer the last question first.

No.  It does not.

It is one of the few places we have been that is beyond the hype.  It is an incredible place. Hopefully here is a picture Helen took from the kayak, but that doesn’t capture the sheer grandeur of waterfalls pouring off 900 metre high cliffs all around you. This only happens on really rainy days.  It was a really rainy day.

There’s so much to say about the place, but ask us when we get home.  It was an excellent day out. And our guide really was an Irish-Welsh-Italian called Cloudi Rainbow.

So after that day and a three course meal in the local tavern for our anniversary (lovely venison medallions for James and salmon wellington for Helen since you asked) we decided we should have a gentler day to follow it.

This started with a luxurious lie in followed by breakfast at the local café. Then we took the van up to Te Anau and popped into the visitors centre for some advice on a straightforward walk in the afternoon.  We also wanted to get above the tree line and take in some views, so we settled on a quick jaunt up another bit of the Kepler track towards luxmore hut. James isn’t very quick at mental arithmetic of turning kilometres into miles and didn’t realise this would be the longest walk he had ever done.  And we started at midday. The round trip was 25.8 km. The ascent was 952 metres. That’s more than you do on Sca Fell pike and without the nice flat bits on the way.

It was stunning up there. Again, hopefully here is a photo or two.

Today we thank God for the invention of blister plasters.

So onto today, we left our campsite of the previous three nights and drove onwards towards Queenstown, which was an incredible shock after the quiet of where we’ve been staying. So we’ve headed beyond it up to the quiet of this mountain pass. Helen has already done a mountain bike ride round the lake while James recovered from yesterday.

More news soon!

Word of the day: Clumsy.

Raindrops keep falling on my head...

Turns out Eric should have been Erica. Also, though we were really excited to see one Sea Lion, the next morning we saw this.

Turns out that Sea Lions are ten a penny along this stretch of coast. The next campsite even had warnings out to watch out for them in the roads ways.  They are a lot of fun though, we saw a couple in the distance playing on the edge of the sea like puppies.

After waving good bye to our new friends we headed off on a mooch along the Caitlins. Taking in many beaches and generally lovely countryside. We had a side jaunt up to the MacLean Falls which were pretty amazing. 

Over new years we were lucky to get a spot on a campsite at Curio Bay. Oh my. Oh my. So we’re used to Sea Lions my now. But down to the east of the campsite you can see these. These are very rare Yellow Eyed penguins. And you can watch them from a few meters away. Amazing. We didn’t manage to stay out until the males all came back from fishing because it was cold and there were sand flies. (Sand  Flies Are Bad. They land on you teeth first).

In the morning we  went to the beach (curio bay itself) on the West of the campsite. Where we saw these. Ok, the pictures aren’t great, but honestly we did see them doing back flips out of the water. If you had a wet suit you could have swum with them but it was FREEZING cold water. These are yet more (very rare) Hector’s Dolphins. Doing back flips for us.

Then we drove to a lighthouse. Which had another sea lion. Then we made a bid for Fiordland via Invarcargail, which was shut. Because it was New Years Day. We managed to find a burger king to eat in. And one shop to buy James some water sandles.

Then more driving up to a very basic “campsite” which by Lake Monowai.

Today we’ve made it to Fiordland proper. (no offence Lake Monowai). It is wet. And Filled with sandflies. And you can get a lovely breakfast of bacon and pancakes up the road. We’re based in Manapouri for the next couple of days. Today we’ve done a day walk along the Kepler Track which is one of New Zealand’s “Great Walks”. Very beautiful rain forest and dramatic mountains appearing out of the clouds. There’s also apparently a chance of seeing the very rare kiwi bird along here. But unlike all the other rare animals in NZ it didn’t show up. 

Tomorrow is our Wedding Anniversary and very romantically James had booked a trip Kayaking on Doubtful Sound.

Right now, its raining. A lot. 

Word of the day - rainbow.