Hadnt slept well at all the previous night, I had woken up at around 5 am. Today the 18km to Sandfly point that needs to be covered by 2PM is the challenge, since we are booked on the 2pm boat to Milford Sound . Rashmi is ready and leaves the hut by 7 AM, she is first person on the track. Now that we have used up the quota of rain for 2 days on the track, today you can see the skies clearing out. All the 3 huts were situated in very beautiful spots but I liked the scenery outside of dumpling hut the most, due to the sun and the snow and the mountains and the blue skies. I leave the hut around 7:30 am.
The Beautiful Morning
At the hut the warden had put out milestones that we could use to gauge how we were doing in terms of time. It took me about an hour to catch up with Rashmi and once we met up we sat down for breakfast. With the skies clearing, the views were spectacular once again. The whole setup of the forest, the streams, the clouds, the mountains, the sky it was magical to have been there to experience it. It lifted our spirits.
My tryst with the Kiwis
It looks like one of the key must dos in NZ is to see a kiwi. So people go to the zoo etc to fulfill this need. So here I am on this beautiful day, trying to catch up with Rashmi and up in front of me on the track are these 2 kiwis going about living their daily routines, digging the ground for worms i guess. Is this my lucky day or what?? I quickly whip out my camera and took the photo that you see below. Well I have the same question -- where are the kiwis??? The flash did not scare them away, so I cannot blame the flash for this.
How did NZ get to be identified as the kiwis? The story is that during world war I (or II!!), while the NZers were fighting along side the Americans and Brisitsh in the war, the show polish on the NZers shoes performed better than the polish used by the soldiers from US and Britain. Since the brand name for that polish was kiwi, the NZers came to be called as kiwis.
The Long Walk to Sandfly Point
We are making good progress, the track is relatively easy, with almost no gradient. 2 hours into the walk, we look to be on track to get to the end of the track with enough time to spare. Some of the streams/rivers along the way look postcard perfect. We take a side trip to see the Mackay Falls and the bell rock. The bell rock is a rock from outside, how ever the rock is hollow and looks like a bell from inside. The track crosses many small rivers, and decent sized water falls. The beech forest is beautiful, since very few people go off track, the undergrowth is dense and there is moss hanging off trees right next to the track. I think the ending sequence in the Lord of the Rings Part I features the giant gates falls that you can see below (but then maybe not) . In the end we make it to Sandfly Point with over half an hour to spare for our boat. We are happy to have completed the trek on time in one piece. Now you crave for a hot shower and hot meals. We are probably 20 mins away from Milford Sound and the excitement is building, We are finally going to get to see Milford Sound, the journey that started 3 years ago was going to complete the full circle.
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