Oh man, so not an hour after I wrote that last update, I called Milford’s Visitor Center to check on our reservations which i thought were for the 28th, turns out, they were for the 26th, that day. So I cursed and told Leigh we had to get in the car ASAP.

We left about 10am, it takes about 2.5 hours to get to Te Anau, where we would leave from and the bus would leave there at 1:15. We hightailed it over there, got our travel squared away, then raced to the super market to collect 4 days worth of food in 10 minutes. Then over to the SportsWorld to rent rainjackets which we never actually used. As a result, I was stuck eating Cup O Noodles and PB&J sandwiches for 4 days. Oh the sodium levels were quite high.

Anyway, we raced back to the Dept of Conservation where we’d pick up our boarding tickets and found out that we could shave 30 bucks off the travel if we drove to Te Anua Downs ourselves from where the ferry was leaving. So we raced there. Got there around 1:30 and the boat was leaving at 2p. We arranged our stuff in our packs and climbed aboard just as the other hikers were done boarding. Just barely made it, whew.

The way the Milford track is set up is only 40 independent hikers can be on the track per day and there are huts for each of the three nights you stay there. The view from the boat was beautiful as we crossed Te Anau Lake and in the process cross the 45th parallel putting us directly between the equator and the south pole. I like useless facts.

They told us about a man named MacKinnon who found the track and also dissappeared in the lake in 1892 where he was assumed drowned. We landed on ground to be greeted nicely by a swarm of sandflies. And my wounds from Abel Tasman have still yet to heal. We took some pics and talked to a couple named Eliza and Brandon for a bit and then left the pack to hike on our own. The first day was nothing, only a 5km walk to the first hut, Clinton Hut in the CLinton Valley. Only took about 1.5 hours and we got there about 4:30pm.

We also took the side path to the wetlands to explore the many different ecosystems which exist in Milford and Fjordland. While we were on the track, it would go from foresty trees, to bushland, to swamp, and back to forest in a matter of an hour. There was a river near by which I went to test the water. It was freezing cold. This is water coming right off the snowcapped mountains.

Oh yeah, even though it was quite warm and sunny where we were, the mountains all around us still had snow on the tops. Quite cool.

That night, we made dinner, mmm noodles, and tried to figure out what to do. In my rush, I had forgotten my sketch book, my journal, and my cards. Luckily, Eliza and Brandon had brought cards and i taught them how to play $#itHead and they taught me how to play Golf and 99. Good times, really nice people. We also played cards with a German named Felix who I got to know better along the trip. We went to bed around 10 and woke up the next morning around 8.

This day was the first real hike, 16km. It wasn’t too bad though, mostly flat. Beautiful rivers and lakes though. I am always astonished at how clear and clean the water is. We drank straight from the rivers.

I fed a Kea bird along the way and stopped at an abandoned bus stop which I have no idea why it was there, random. When we arrived at Mintaro Hut the second night really around 3:30, there was a lake nearby. I went out there to swim and discovered I had left my towel in the hostel, ce la vie. I walked into the water and it was even colder.

You know how in the Pacific, you can swim and once you go numb, you’re fine? That didn’t work here, cause you just felt pain it was so cold. Felix said you’d prolly pass out if you kept your head underwater for too long. So I laid out and got some sun on the beach with three American guys and we watched avalanches fall off the mountain side every 30 minutes or so. You’d hear rumbling, look up and see rocks and snow sliding down the mountain in the distance. Played some more cards that night after dinner and prepared ourselves for the hard haul the next day.

Got going around 8:30a. This was only a 14km walk but it was all the way up the mountain and back down the other side through a saddle between peaks called the MacKinnon Pass. Oie, so grueling. The up was steep, but only lasted 1.5 hours, so not bad, but the down was hardly a trail at all, it was just a bunch of jagged, uneven rocks, or anklebreakers as I call them. That was a hard walk.

At the top though, there is a beautiful view and there’s a Memorial for MacKinnon as well. On the way to the third hut, the Dumpling Hut, you can take a 45 min stray off the path to see Sutherland falls, the tallest in New Zealand. These falls were worth the trip I think. I was walking along the path and they just popped up through the trees and were emmence.

i love how beautiful things just appear out of nowhere in this country. The falls came down into a small pond and there were slippery rocks you could go on to get to the back of the falls. I of course did this and got completely soaked in the process, much to the enjoyment of all those hiking with me. If you look closely at the picture, I’m standing to the bottom left of the falls.

At Dumpling hut, there was a swimming hole near by and this water was not as freezing as the lake the day before so you could actually get into it, but not for long. So I took a quick dunk since I hadn’t had a shower in a few days just to cool off.

That night, we showed off sandfly scars on our feet and shared stories over cards, that is Eliza, Brandon, Felix, Leigh, and I.

The fourth day was the longest hike, 18km, but it was across easy flat terrain.

WE had to make a boat at 2p, so everyone got up really early and we started walking about 7:30a. Beauty surrounds you on this trail although there were a couple of spots where flies surrounded you. Lots of nice falls along the way and I stopped at Giant’s Gate Falls for a while to wait before continuing on to SandFly Point where the boat would be. WE all wanted to time it so we got there just as the boat arrived. The name did not instill a desire to linger there more then was necessary.

I’m glossing over a lot of the experience cause it’s hard to describe the wonder and beauty of this place. You’ll just have to go, or check out the pics.

WE finally made it to the boat and cruised through Milford Sound which is very beautiful and I must go back. We got aboard the long bus ride back to our car and even the bus ride was beautiful. WE have been so fortunate on weather to the extent that I think I missed out slightly on some of the Milford Track experience. Cause typically it rains there quite alot and floods even, we got all sun and not a drop all four days.

Getting back to our car, we drove back to Te Anau and found accomodations at a hostel to find Felix was staying there as well. I had made arrangements with Eliza and Brandon to meet at 7p at a place called The Moose for burgers. WE were all craving meat the whole time we were on the trail and I told them of the bacon wrapped sausages at the Staples Center, they were in awe.

I took a shower as best i could with such low pressure and Felix and I headed over there. Newlyweds Jane and Jeff who had been on the track were there aswell and fancied talking about the perfection of their first dance and apricots. WE all had a good time and I enjoyed my meat. WE swapped emails and I hope to keep in touch with them, maybe send Felix some Oreos.

The next day, Leigh and I decided to skip the caves since we’d seen so many and headed down to Invercargill and the Catlin Tours. THere is a nice scenic route on the Southern coast of the South Island. However, what they failed to mention is the propencity of gravel roads. I felt so sorry for Mo. Gravel everywhere and we were getting quite tired of it.

ALthough, we did go to the southern most point on the South Island which was cool and went to a lighthouse with really nice rocks to climb on.

Leigh saw some snails in the water and thought it’d be a good idea to pick them and eat them. I was once again not with this whole eating of slimey things, but nevertheless, I hesitantly helped her pick them and we put them in a bottle in the car. WE went to Waipapa or some little town to stay the night and found it was booked, but they referred us elsewhere which was very nice.

WE wanted to stay and see the Cathedral Caves at low tide in the morning. But once we got to the hostel, there was a sign saying lowtide that night was at 7:52, so we booked it back over to Cathedral Cave and found the gate locked and closed. However, it was only two km to the coast, so we decided to jump the gate and walk it.

Along the way, I met another couple and 2 English guys on their way to the states. The Cathedral caves were amazing. Just gigantic caves in the side of this coastal cliff. And there were alot of them too. I went into the first one lit by the dying sun of dusk. There was a really dark corner which I couldn’t see into and at first was afraid, but I could see light on the other side and figured what is in NZ that could hurt me. As I started to pass, I heard a gurgled growl, which freaked the crap out of me and I jumped 10 feet back. I shined my camera around the corner and took a picture. Looking at the digital display, I saw that a white seal was sitting just inside the dark corner. Freaked me out man. I didn’t know how hostile it would get and it was very dark so I went around the other side to get inside the cave. As I was walking in, I saw the english guys running out towards me cause the seal had freaked them out as well. Quite funny.

WE also saw some tiny blue penguins in there. They were so small and cute, but got very angry when we got too close. I definately want to go back there with a proper torch and explore those caves more thoroughly.

But that night, we went back to the hostel and cooked dinner and snails, which turned out to not taste bad but were very gritty from the sand, so we didn’t eat them. Quite a waste I thought.

WE woke up and headed out to Dunedin and the Otago Peninsula where we stopped at a nice cafe for lunch. We went to Larnarch Castle, which is NZ’s only castle and although quite small, was still interesting to read about the history. DOn’t worry, I won’t go into it now even though I really want to.

Then we went out to the end of the Peninsula to the Armstrong gun which is a dissappearing gun designed to rise up out of the ground, fire and dissappear again with the recoil. ALthough never used in combat it was actually quite cool. NZ apparently had many guns installed along their coast during the Russia scare of the late 1800s and WW I and II.

We then went over to Penguin Place and decided not to pay for the tour cause we saw penguins in the wild the night before.

On the way out, we stopped by a place called The Chasm, which hey, is just a large crevasse in the coastline; a tourist attraction wannabe if you ask me. We then left Dunedin, cause now we’re in a hurry to get to the North. It’s really cold down here and we have to have time to sell our car back.

WE stopped be Moeraki beach and saw the spherical rocks on the beach which apparently formed 60 million years ago when limestone gathered around a hard core. It was wierd to see them just in one small tiny place though. I hugged one, I think it hugged back, as rocks do. We barley made it to TImaru in time to get lodging for the night and tomorrow we’ll head to Christchurch.