Our Transport for the track left at 1:15 PM, so we had the morning to prepare ourselves. We were mentally ready to do the trek. Fiordland gets about 8000mm of rain a year (that is 8 metres). In November on an average it rains for 19 out of the 30 days, and out of the 4 days on the track you have to expect rain on atleast 2 of the days. Since we needed to expect that we will be drenched in the rain on the track, we decided to dump our passports in a locker rather than risk getting it wet on the track, imagine throwing your passports into a public locker for 4 days. This is one of those decisions that can make you look stupid if things go wrong.
We had quite a bit of time to kill, and we decided to walk over to the super market to pick up some additional medication for Rashmi's blister. Along with blister tapes, we picked up some bread and a bar of chocolate. In the end it turns out, this bar of chocolate was our only source of energy for the last 2 days on the track. Thank god for impulsive purchases. We walked around Te Anau and took some snaps before having lunch and heading for the DOC office to catch our bus.
Te Anau is a small town situated on the banks of Lake Te Anau, the largest lake on the south island. This place is the gateway to all things fiordland, it is also the last stop before you get to Milford Sound and Doubtful sound. Has a wide variety of options if you want to do multi day walks.
The Milford Track
This is a 53.5 km trek that you HAVE to do over 4 days. You need a permit and you can only trek in one direction. You need to take boat rides on both ends of the track. The DOC (department Of Conservation) maintains huts where with the permit you can stay overnight. The huts have a kitchen with running water and gas, a community hall, bunk beds and flush toilets. No showers and no hot water in the toilets, no drying rooms either, very essential in case of heavy rain, so trampers use the fireplace in the community hall to dry their wet gear. The other option is the expensive and comfortable guided walk. The freedom walker's huts can sleep 40 trekkers per night and today I think we had about 35 people at the minimum. Rudyard Kipling described this track as the eight wonder of the world and it has been variously called as the "finest walk in the world". In the past before the homer tunnel was built and a road to Milford Sound was built, the maori used this track to travel to Milford Sound (Piopiotahi) in order to collect Pounamu (green stone) and transport it back to Te Anau.
Getting to the Track
From the DOC office you take a short bus ride to Te Anau Downs, the maps shown above try to show where the Milford Track is located and the daily break up of the distances and the gradient. Very nifty, I picked them from the official brochure.
From Te Anau Downs to the start of the track, it is about an hour's boat ride, on the northern part of Lake Te Anau. There are 2 boats daily that take walkers from Te Anau Downs to the start of the track and this is the last boat for the day. The boat ride is very windy and chilly due to the stiff breeze. How ever the scenery is breathtaking, unspoilt virgin forests, mountains on which probably less than a few hundred people have ever set foot on. Again couldn't get enough of the views. It was very chilly due to the breeze, so we would spend time indoor and the come out for a while to take snaps.
Here we go !!!
You notice how in life, success begets more success. If you are ahead of the pack, it is easy to keep your motivation up and continue to try and stay ahead of the pack. Who ever said, the spirit of sportsmanship is in participation. Hell no, it is in finishing at the top. We needed a strategy that would keep us not far behind the group. The strategy we worked out was for us to start every day about 30-60 mins ahead of the rest of the group, so that we can stay with the group by the end of the day. This worked.
We were one of the first off the boat and we got started immediately. The first day it is a 5km walk from the wharf to Clinton hut. Flat easy walking. You are walking in the Clinton valley, on the banks of the Clinton river. The water looks and feels so fresh, it is crystal clear. The weather is beautiful, it gets warm as we keep walking. This is perfect, how ever it also means that we have used up one day of fine weather, so expect rain for 2 out of the remaining 3 days.
Clinton Hut - First night Stop
We get to the hut by 5PM and have enough time to relax and get settled. The location of the hut again is very beautiful, it is surrounded by sheer cliffs and there is this waterfall right behind the hut. The warden invites the group for a nature walk to see the local flora and fauna. Well we are here for 4 days of nature walk we didnt need another 30 min nature walk to add to this. Since there is no electricity at the huts, we need to conserve our camera batteries. The forecast for the next day says, heavy rain throughout the day.
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