January 7th 2009

I woke up with delight; today I start the world’s most beautiful hike!  I drove into town and dropped by van in a secure parking facility and walked a mile down to the DOC offices to wait for the van.   The weather was decent this morning, but so unpredictable, who knows how long it would last.  A bus took us to the dock where we’d catch a boat to take us up the lake for an hour to the dropoff at the start of the track. 

The ride up Lake Te Anau was awesome.  It was the same style boat as the Stewart Island ferry, just a tad smaller. 

This photo shows where we were heading, to the end of the lake and there just happened to be rain falling! 

The Milford track is not only known as the most beautiful hike in the world, it is also one of the wettest hikes in the world.  I did my best to prepare and had the best rain gear I could buy.  I also had a fancy pack liner that everything went in inside the pack, plus the pack’s rainfly.  I think I had it covered. 

As we neared the dock I was shocked to see it underwater, and the boat captain said he hadn’t seen this much rain in years.  Lake Te Anau is the 2nd largest lake in NZ and imagine what volume it has and how much rain would really have to fall to make a lake of this size raise 2 feet in a couple of days!!

It was cool to see that every person that got off the boat was required to walk through a special bleach solution or dip their boots into the solution.  They are having a real tough time with an introduced alga called didymo, also called rock snot.  It coats the bottom of lakes and streams choking off everything.  I like how serious they take their environmental threats in NZ.

They allow 80 hikers per day on the track.   Forty are guided with special fancy accommodations on the track.  All they have to carry is a daypack and they have hot showers and catered meals every night.  The other forty walkers are independent.  I was in that group.  We carry everything we need for 4 days except a tent and stove.  We get basic cabins with bunks each night with a communal kitchen.  We were not even allowed in or near the guided walkers’ cabins, it was weird.  The two groups walked at different times too, so I never saw any guided walkers and in fact, I rarely saw the walkers in my group except at night, we’d spread out pretty quickly on the trail.

This first day was easy with just a 2 hour hike on level ground to the first hut, the Clinton Hut for night 1.  It didn’t rain much the first day but sprinkled often.  I really had fun taking my time and enjoying the scenery. 

Here is a little video of me crossing that bridge in the picture above. (26 MB)

Once at the hut, we were given a talk by the hut ranger on some local flora and that was nice.  He also gave us a weather update and he said expect to be very wet.

The Milford Track brings in people from around the world.  I met a guy from California named Steve, he was in NZ a month early ahead of his wife getting in all the big tracks hiked before she arrived.  I hiked often with Steve since we were both solo on the track. I also met Bass and Michelle.  Bass was from Holland and his wife Michelle was from Kansas City, they both live in Holland now and are missionaries for the church.  Even missionaries take vacations I guess. 

At dinner the first night I met Tara and Shane from Canada.  They got married in NZ a few days earlier and are living the dream.  They were super cool.  I also met a group of hikers from Minnesota, Ryan and Nicole and Nicole’s sister Lyndsey.  Ryan is a cool cat and we hiked together a lot on this trip.  There were folks from all over the world in my group of 40, France, Canada, USA, Iceland, Israel, England, Holland, and a few others I can’t remember. 

My bunk the 1st night.

January 8th 2009

Well, it literally rained all night long, heavy rain.  The ranger posted a notice that we couldn’t leave the hut until he gave us the clearance.  It gave me a chance to have a lazy breakfast and relax.  Once I was moving around 8am I had to cover 16.5km (10.2 miles) and gain some elevation on my way to the Mintaro Hut.  This hut is right at the base of the Mackinnon Pass.  It rained off and on all day, but it made for some amazing views.  The waterfalls that the Milford Track is famous for were everywhere.  Literally thousands of waterfalls as far as the eye could see.  

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It took me about 6 hours to go the 10.2 miles and I was the last to arrive at the hut.  Partly that is because I hike slow and take a lot of photos, and partly it’s because I am not in the best of shape, but I still managed.  By contrast Tom from Holland whom met today could have ran the whole thing.  Every morning I’d leave before he was even awake yet and he’d catch me before the halfway point each day and his pack was way heavier than mine.  I called him the Flying Dutchman! 

That night at dinner we had a sobering talk from the hut ranger on the weather.  The rain had kept up all day and everyone was weary.  Normally the hut we were at received on average around 9 meters of rain per year.  That is 29.5 feet of rain annually.  It was January 8th and they had received nearly a full meter of rain in the last 8 days.  They were on track for a record setting year.  It’s hard to comprehend that much rain, but if you could see the waterfalls, you’d understand it better. 

To that end, here are a few cheesy videos of the waterfalls from the 8th.

Movie links:

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January 9th 2009

Today was the big climb up Mackinnon Pass plus another 10 miles of trail to the next hut, the Dumpling Hut.  Again it rained all night and we were again on hold in the morning.  Once the trail was deemed passable by the rangers they let us go.  It was a full on downpour all morning as I climbed the ridge’s switchbacks.  The temps were also dropping precipitously as I climbed.  It was on this 2 hour stretch of trail where I made up my mind to get lasik when I got home.  My glasses were useless in the unrelenting rain and of course I was panting and sweating like a dog and fogging the glasses up.  I ended up not even wear my glasses most of this whole time and missed out on so much.  (Update:  I had Lasik on March 13th 2009!!! And I am now 20/15, sweet!)

Here is a video about half way up the ridge I made. (22MB)

Around lunchtime I finally made it to the top of the pass and up there they have a small hut for trampers to warm up in and regroup.  I’m really glad it was there, I needed a little break.  The small hut was crammed full of wet, cold hikers. 

Once I warmed up a bit I decided to go outside and photograph some of the keas that were hanging around.  They are a native parrot to the high country in NZ and they are cool as hell.  As I was outside the most amazing thing happened, the clouds suddenly lifted and I could see for miles below and I was awestruck.  Everyone poured out of the hut and started shooting photos.  It was so beautiful. 

After a while I decided it was time to start back down the other side of the pass.  I had a lot of elevation to drop and that would be harder on my knees than the coming up part.  The weather was holding pretty well too and it made for amazing views.

Here is a short video from half way down the other side. (17MB)

When I finally made it down to the bottom I was greeted by stairs.  Stairs that seemingly went forever down, more and more stairs.  My quads were burning like they’ve never burned before.  Luckily they cover all the stairs with chicken wire to help with traction. 

Imagine stairs like this for 45 minutes...

Once I finally reached the fancy lodge for the guided walkers, I stopped because this is the turnoff to an optional hike.  This side trail take you to the base of Sutherland Falls, which drops over 800 meters (1904 feet).  The falls were worth the extra hike even though I could hardly feel my legs now.  While I was resting, I got a cool video of a weka that seemed to like me.  Too bad brown kiwis are not as easy to see. 

Short video of a cute weka. (8.5MB)

Here is a little video of the falls. (21MB)

I tried to walk up underneath the falls, but the water was COLD and it was a lot of water coming down.  Nothing to be taken lightly! 

I arrived at the last hut around 6:15pm and I was beat.  Damn I really wish I had carried in some beer.  I needed a beer tonight.  Luckily Ryan from Minnesota had a flask of some good whiskey and we traded several shots to take the pain from our legs. 

January 10th 2009

This morning was clear with blue skies.  What a nice change!!!  The walk today was long at around 12 miles and I had to make the boat at 2pm so I was pushing myself at a pretty good pace today. 

Here is a short video I made early in the morning. (32MB)

I got to the dock with an hour to spare.  I just walked 33.5 miles in 4 days, really about 36 miles if you count the optional stuff I did.  This is probably the biggest accomplishment of my life so far and I’m pretty proud of myself. 

Final video of the Milford Track (24MB)

The boat took us into the town called Milford Sound where Tom and I boarded a much larger boat to take a tour of the Milford Sound.  This was pretty neat to cruise the sound all the way out to the Tasman Sea.  I’m glad I had paid for the extra tour, because the sound was really cool. 

After that I caught a bus back to Te Anau and jeez that was scary.  The road has several places where it drives next to steep drop offs and with all the traffic it was scary.  Back at Te Anau, I said goodbye to my friends, Tom, Steve, Ryan, Nicole, Lyndsey, Tara, and Shane and found my van waiting for me.  It was near 8pm and I was dead tired.  I drove into town and found a new holiday park to stay in and simply crashed out, exhausted!!! 

January 11th 2009

Today was the long day from hell because I didn’t plan so well.  I had a lot of miles to cover because I had to catch the ferry on the next day all the way at the top of the south island.  I drove 12 hours today, all the way to Hanmer Springs.  I did make one stop to see the famous Moeraki Boulders.  They are a strange sight to see.

I passed through several towns and places I wanted to stop and visit, but I simply didn’t have time.  Damn poor planning!  The coolest thing that I didn’t have time to see the blue penguins at Timaru.  Damn...

I passed the time drying clothes while I drove. Haha

Once at Hanmer Springs, I enjoyed the hot springs and relaxed my sore muscles. 

January 12th 2009

Today was also going to be another damn long day.  My ferry was not until 5pm or so, so I had all day to make it up to the Picton.  I took the scenic way over the mountain range and then north.  I hoped to have time to see Abel Tasman National Park, but again, that will have to be next time.  I relaxed on a beach near Nelson for a few hours reading and getting some sun before I drove on into Picton. 

I took a quick video of me driving onto the ferry. (33MB)

Well, the ferry had some mechanical issues and was 2 hours late departing, so I didn’t get into Wellington until around 11pm.  I just decided to keep driving north and just find a place to camp along the way.  I ended up crashing out at a rest stop with a few other small rental vans.  It’s all good.  :)

January 13th 2009

I got up early and headed into town to find food and coffee.  Not a big deal, the McCafes are everywhere, the NZ version of our McDonalds.  They actually have expressed coffee made to order at their McDonalds. 

I drove north and stopped in Tongariro National Park to get some photos of the volcanos.  The weather was pretty nice too. 

I then went into Taupo and did some last minute souvenir shopping and had lunch.  Northward I went all the way to Hamilton where I called it a night and crashed out at a holiday park. 

While surfing the web in my van I saw on the news that Fiji was having record flooding.  What??  I was supposed to go to Fiji the next day and spend a few days??  So I called Air Pacific and they confirmed the small island nation was a mess and I asked them to just get me on the next 747 home and they did without a problem or a charge.  I then cancelled my Fijian hotel reservation and went to sleep relieved and also sad knowing that tomorrow I was going home. 

January 14th 2009

I dropped off the van back at Tom and Michaela’s around 0930 and they gave me a ride to the airport.  The total miles driven were 3479 miles!  Pretty impressive huh??!!  The only downer was the last few days, other than that I didn’t mind all the driving.  I wanted to see as much as I could in the shortest time.  Of all the folks I met on this trip, I was the one on the shortest trip.  People around the world really like to travel, but us Americans tend to simply do short trips then rush back to work.  Screw that...

While getting my boarding pass the Air Pacific ticket agent warned me that another typhoon was set to hit Fiji tonight and my flight to LAX from Fiji may not be able to take off and I said I didn’t care, let’s go for it.  I was cautioned to buy food and water and expect the worst, so I carried a lot of snacks with me.  The only high ground in Fiji is the airport and when I arrived, I could tell the airport was the only place still normal in the whole nation.  Flying in I could see that every major road was flooded and the ocean was brown for miles around the islands.  I guess bad weather really was attracted to me on this trip. 

They were dealing with the worst disaster they’d seen in generations with thousands homeless, dozens dead and missing, and tourists stuck at remote resorts.  Then here I was in the nice clean airport totally fine listening to some typical American tourist bitching about the heat.  I wanted to say to them, “Hey asshole, this country is in shambles, shut the fuck up”, but it would have done no good.  I also had a strange coincidence when I met a guy named Bruce who lived in Taos.  What a small world it was.  I sat with him a while talking about New Mexico, but ended up finding some quiet spots downstairs where I could watch DVDs to pass the time.  Good old Buff, helping me pass the time, Luc would be smiling.  :)

So at 10pm my flight boarded and we sat on the runway a while.  The pilot came on and told us that they had to wait for a tail wind because the plane was heavy.  That was not very reassuring.  Needless to say, when he finally hammered on it, I thought we’d never lift off.  They must have one log runway there in Fiji and I think we used last foot of it.  I was white-knuckling it for sure.  But, once we were above 5000 feet, it was fine all the way home. 

Once in Los Angeles, Southwest was super awesome and had me back in Phoenix in no time for just a few bucks extra. 

Final Thoughts…. 

So, overall I’m glad I took this trip, it was certainly an amazing trip, but I learned some lessons.  First I will plan better and have more backup options available for bad weather days.  I found myself often figuring out alternatives on the fly.  Next time I’ll eat out less and save more money.  I spent more money on food than I should have.  The most important thing I learned is that I am a great solo traveler for small trips, but on long amazing trips like this, it is better to share it. I'm not going to take any more big trips like this solo.

Thanks for reading…    

End of the trip...