We’re back! Our last day was spent driving to the Christchurch airport. On the way, we stopped for a tour of the city’s Red Zone – the area most affected by the earthquakes that have rocked the city since early last year. A sobering end to an otherwise cheery vacation, but I’m glad we did it. Christchurch is a beautiful city. I wish we could have taken more time to explore.

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After a lovely breakfast at the B&B in Dunedin, we packed up and hit the road.  We made a stop at the Moreki boulders – cool, since we were passing by, but I would not recommend making a major detour to fit the boulders in.  We then said goodbye to the Pacific Coast and made our way inland to the Southern Alps.  Along the way, we pulled over for some marked Maori cave drawings.  Again, one of those attractions not worth making the detour, but since it was along our way, no big deal.  We finally caught glimpse of snow-capped mountains, as well as the clouds that would soon engulf them.  It was a beautiful drive into Mt. Cook National Park, with the clear blue waters of Lake Pukaki along the way.  We pulled over at the impressive visitor center then set off on the Hooker Valley Track, only to encounter gale-force winds in our face.  We only made it about half way down the track before the clouds swallowed the mountain views and the wind was too much to bear.  The photos should illustrate just how gusty it was.  We then headed back out of the park and hopped over to our Cottage in Tekapo (cute!), while picking up some take-out Chinese along the way (we are tired of paying $$$ for so-so meals at restaurants).  We took a stroll down to the lake with awesome mountain lupine in bloom on the lakeshore just behind the iconic Church of the Good Sheppard.

Tomorrow we’re off to Christchurch to start our long journey back home =(

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Our day in Dunedin was lovely!  After a large breakfast at the B&B , we made our way into town and visited the Otago Museum – lots of cool exhibits on Pacific Island, Maori, and local stuff.  We then met up with Laura, a friend from Davidson, who is studying at the university in Otago, for lunch.  We then made our way over to the iconic Dunedin train station for pickup for the Elm Wildlife tour.  The tour promised some fantastic wildlife sightings on the Otago Peninsula and those promises were indeed fulfilled!  First we got to witness the great albatross colony (only mainland one in existence) – with a wingspan of 3.3m, and spending many months at sea (they can travel from NZ to S. America in 10 days – look it up!), they are quite an impressive bird!  We then head over to the private land that the tour operates from and got to see Fur Seals (pups too!), yellow-eyed penguins, blue penguins and sea lions.  Penguins were indeed the highlight of Audrey’s day and getting to see them up close (waddling onto the beach), as well as chicks in the nest was a fantastic experience!  We returned quite late and tired, but when you see the close-up wildlife photos, you will likely agree that the tour was quite the treat!

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No photo album today, sorry guys!

We awoke to find the rain had subsided and that the sandflies were out in full force. Most importantly, the Milford Road was open again, which meant we’d have no problem getting out, provided there was enough room on the bus. The Blue Duck was back with a vengeance, but the pretty mountains helped take my mind off of the unhappy state of my stomach long enough to make it back to the DOC center in Te Anau.

We returned our gear and hit the road to Dunedin (we decided sadly to forego the Catlins drive we had planned due to the road closure delay). The drive was quite pretty with many wind farms and lots of sheep along the way. We stopped for a picture in Milton, NZ to commemorate our favorite house cat.

We arrived at our B&B just shy of 4:00 PM. We’re staying in the guest cottage in the garden. We were so beat that turning in early and working on the blog and photos sounded like a great idea.

Day 1

We were off to an early start, having to leave our backpacker accommodation by 6:00 am to make it to Te Anau in time to pick up our tickets and rental gear. We really wish we could have stayed in Queenstown longer and really wish we had about 5 more hours of sleep the previous night.

We arrived in Te Anau in what felt like record time for NZ driving and got our tickets. We swung by to get an overpriced and under-caffienated coffee and then to pick up our rental gear from a supposed shop in town. Boy, were we sorely disappointed, as the shop did not open when they said they would and did not take the time or care to notice that JD’s rental pack was missing some vital straps and not a good fit for his body – we were in a rush and didn’t notice until it was too late. Shame on you, Bev’s gear hire – negative Trip Advisor Karma coming your way!

We caught the bus with just one other couple to Te Anau Downs and then boarded a boat for an hour to take us to Glade Wharf, the start of our “walk”. We set out with what felt like incredibly heavy packs and I was second guessing just how much gear we actually needed to bring. We arrived at the first hut (Clinton) after 5km and 1.5hrs of walking. Turns out there was a later boat that would have made more sense to get on, because there is no need to arrive to the hut at 1pm with nothing to do outside other than get eaten alive by sandflies.Luckily, there was a neat nature walk at 5pm, hut talk at 8pm, and glow worm tour that resulted in hearing a real kiwi call around 10pm.

In between, we spent a good deal of time making friends with an Aussie family from Perth, Aussie brothers from Sydney and Gold Coast, a father daughter pair from Melbourne, and a couple from Holland. Much to our chagrin, however, we learned that a majority of the other hikers were 15-17 year-olds on a rotary exchange that had severe issues with VOLUME CONTROL and a bit too much of a love for singing showtunes and listening to Rhianna on their iPhones while hiking. Luckily their enthusiasm for such annoying tendencies waned as their energy levels dropped, but still…oh. my. gosh.

Day 2

Our second day began with an early rise with the hopes of beating the teenagers out of the door before they scared away all the wildlife. Thanks to the drizzle, the sandflies were a non-issue and we saw a pair of paradise ducks, a blue duck, a momma duck with three chicks, a fantail, a black robin, river eels & trout, amongst other critters. The hike was mostly flat until the end, but the climbing wasn’t bad.

We arrived at the hut by 1:30pm and were cold and wet. Thankfully, JD is a fire master and got a nice fire going in the stove in our hut – we were all smiles until the ranger barked at him for using up all the wood. The DOC ranger later revealed in his hut talk that he has some personality quirks that would likely make him a serial killer, and we were all too glad to make our way out in the morning. Alas, my boot had been nibbled by a Kea overnight, despite my efforts to hang my boots up out of harms’ way.

Day 3

Snow was forecast overnight, but much to the Aussies’ dismay, none fell. At least the skies were clear and allowed for great Fiordland views as a reward for our day of climbing. We finally got to meet the notorious Keas atop McKinnon pass and got a chuckle out of their antics trying to tear into the guided walkers’ packs. (You can walk unguided like us peons for a mere $300 a head, or take the more luxurious approach of having a tour company put you up in nice huts with electricity and showers and real food for about $2000.)

The climb down the emergency route was a terror (the normal route was closed due to avalanche risk) and I nearly broke my ankle no less than 7 times stepping on loose uneven rocks. We did hear what sounded like a rock slide coming from the closed off area of the track, which made us feel a bit better about our treacherous route. We stopped for lunch at a lovely waterfall and then continued the steep (and painful) descent down the mountain.

Unfortunately, the side trek to Sutherland falls was closed due to a massive rock slide that destroyed a large section of the track. Sutherland is the 5th tallest waterfall in the world, and although we got to see it from a distance, up close would have been even cooler.

Hanging out in the hut continued the standard operating procedure of eating ramen, listening to teenagers shriek their heads off, playing some cards, having nice conversations, and listening to the evening ranger talk. Shockingly, we learned that due to the avalanche risk that comes with heavy rains, the road out of Milford could be closed for the following day…WHAT?! More on that tomorrow…

Day 4

We arose early with the hopes of beating the rain and allowing ourselves plenty of time to catch the 2:00 PM boat out of Sandfly Point. At times, the hike felt like a death march, knowing we had to make it, knowing that JD’s knee could flare up at any time, and knowing that our hustle could all be for naught if the road out was in fact closed.

We are proud to proclaim that we finished “second place” behind the Aussie brothers and in front of Team Holland and Team Perth in the great Milford Track Race (totally not a race, but it’s hard not to be proud that we didn’t finish dead last in a 33.5 mile hike – something we certainly don’t do every day!).

When the boat arrived to take us back, we were informed that the road was indeed closed and we would be forced to stay at the Milford Sound Lodge. Although late in the season for avalanche, somehow a giant wad of ice and rocks is hanging out waiting to collapse upon the entrance of the Homer Tunnel. Unfortunately, this meant we had to cancel our visit to the highly acclaimed Fernbirds B&B.

Now trapped in the bustling metropolis of Milford, we headed over to the local watering hole, a bar and restaurant named the Blue Duck (a quick note about this particular restaurant: one reviewer on Trip Advisor remarked that the Blue Duck is blue because it has Ebola). A good time was had with our Aussie friends as we devised a film plot around deranged DOC park rangers murdering people in the woods, and Kea birds pecking people to death. Many nightmares were had that evening with regards to the avalanche actually coming down and shutting off the road completely and for DAYS, which would have resulted in essentially an end to our trip, and/or an expensive helicopter ride out of the trapped area.

All things considered, we are glad we hiked the Milford Track, proud that we were able to overcome its trials, and extremely grateful for the wonderful friends we made while tramping in the New Zealand woods. Cheers!

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