Four Seasons in a Day

Hiya! After coming out of the Milford Track, Mary and I made a beeline for Motueka (the northern coast of the South Island- where we did our first trek on the Abel Tasman about a month and a half ago! Can't believe it!); being one of the warmest parts of the country and also home to many friendly kiwis, vineyards, and orchards.....in other words, this is where I would choose to live in this country and Mary would live in Nelson, just down the road from here, where we are headed tomorrow (bigger, has a movie theater...oh, I think I forgot to tell you that at the movie theaters here, they sell ice cream cones and wine and beer which you bring into the theater with you! Amazing.) So, I'm getting ahead of myself again....the Milford Track....a three night, 4 day tramp(33.5 miles)....being one of New Zealand's 9 Great Walks (and certainly the most famous), one has to book this out in advance....for high summer season, a year out...I actually booked ours in Oct right before I got our plane tickets....we arrived in Te Anau (the closest town to the start of the trek) on a hot, sunny day and spent the afternoon by the lake. For the next 2 days, there were severe weather warnings and torrential rains...a gentleman at the campground we were staying at said, "It'll come right.""It'll come right." And, it did. On the morning of our departure, we awoke to partly cloudy skies and walked the 10 minutes from our last night's lodging at Te Anau Downs (I booked a room at a backpacker for the night before and after our trek there in case we were wet!) to the ferry. We sat on the top and rode about 1 and 1/2 hours across the lake to the start (some of the lakes are so huge here they look like the ocean!)....we met some of our fellow trampers....and enjoyed the view....on the Milford, you are required to follow the path and stay at each of the 3 huts. The first day only entailed about a 1 and 1/2 hour walk to the first hut....being the last, we soon met up with 2 guys from Hawaii who were "bird-dogging" a guided tour up a side path through the bush and up a creekbed so we joined them. It was glorious- from all the rain, everything was dripping and glistening...the spiderwebs in the trees were all lined with dew and lit up with all the colors of the rainbow....we were so lucky, every day was sunny and warm, we didn't even pull our raingear out. One of the highlights was Sutherland Falls- it is the tallest waterfall in NZ and, I was told, the 5th largest in all of Australasia...again, being last on the trail, we enjoyed it all to ourselves and, as we met a few of our fellow trampers on their way out from this sidetrip, they affered their advice: the first guy said," bring a jacket or you'll get very wet". The next 2 girls said, "leave your camera behind the big rock...and everything else...and go up the left side and behind the waterfall" (they were dripping wet and smiling hugely)-we took their advice. At one point, I said, "Mary, if we're going for it, now is the time!" We ran across the tussocks, and the creek in our crocs (me yelling-of course)-it was very loud and very cold! AND, you wouldn't believe the WIND! It was like being by a helicopter! We got around the side, soaking wet, entirely exhilarated, when Mary YELLED,"Do you think this is good enough?" We were laughing so hard. Later, I said something about the wind and Mary's reply was, "What do you mean?" "That was like a hurricane. " Oh, and Mary saw a kiwi, too! (I was behind her on the trail)- that was the day before. It is so rare to see one in the wild. Like a tourist coming to Rocky Mountain Natl Park and witnessing a mountain lion attacking an elk- something I've never seen, but talked to a newcomer who has. Another unusual thing we have noticed on these tramps is that people get up very early(don't laugh, Miguel), some even set an alarm clock ("What the hell is that?", you wonder when it's still dark out and you've got all day to get to the next hut) and race to the next hut to get there by early afternoon. This worked out great for us cause we'd sleep in a bit and then go to the kitchen and make our coffee in peace and quiet, and be able to leisurely enjoy the walk all to ourselves. It was fun to meet up with the others at night in the huts and share stories over dinner. We played Farkle (dice game we learned at Michele and Mike Johnston's one Thanksgiving) one night with 2 other Americans and 3 Germans...we learned from Philip, the German guy, who also brought his dice to the table, that it is called "Chicago" in their country. Crazy. Well, the last day's weather is really what made it perfect- it was misty- not enough to put on our raingear, but, enough to put our packcovers on. When we reached Sandfly Point (and, it's given that name for a reason! and, they will bite you in swarms. ya know how when you've been on a boat for a long time(days), your body naturally sways back and forth when you are once again on flat ground? Well, once you've been bitten by sandflies, you experience "phantom bites"- at least, that's our experience and what we call them. And, they sting just as bad as the real thing. So, anyway, since the rest of our group "the independent walkers" had caught the early ferry out....we were the only two, besides the "guided walkers" (mostly Japanese).....I think the young, good-looking kiwi ferry driver must have felt a kinship with us (or felt sorry for us) as we weren't enjoying the bagels and hot drinks provided to the others so he said, "I will come get you two first when it is time to leave and you can choose the best spot on the ferry." We got on the very front and we pulled out into the Fiordlands and it is just like you see in photos....misty, moody, dramatic and magical passing slowly over the water, waterfalls flowing down everywhere. It was perfect. We celebrated with a cold beer and dinner at a cafe in the harbour and rode the bus back to our backpacker where we showered and watched The Terminal (Tom Hanks) on TV eating popcorn and drinking hot Ovaltine. Next day,I could hardly walk (one day was straight up and straight down)..... we headed back up through Queenstown and Wanaka-beautiful mountain lakes and waterfalls and the rain began......it lasted for two days...we went to Fox Glacier and the Franz Josef Glacier and thought it was very cool how they do come down to meet the rainforest, but, we did not hike up to them because of the heavy rain and warnings of flashfloods....our glacial experience at Mt. Cook is our most favorite part of our trip..... We catch the ferry in a couple of days back to the North Island and fly out of Auckland on the 22nd......we are already talking about coming back and we ahven't even left yet! For those of you travelling here, the "real Hobbiton" I referred to earlier is in Akaroa at the Unoko Farm Hostel- Steve and his German partner, Anja, run it.....go there and plan to stay for awhile.
We send our love and hugs,
Holly and Mary