Current Location:Queenstown, Aotearoa
I can’t help but compare the Milford Track to the Pacific Coast cycle ride I did, just on a much smaller scale. It provided amazing vistas and somewhat challenging terrain, much like the Pacific Coast. But I think the greatest echo of the Pacific Coast tour I did was the fact that every day you walk on your own (or with a group) and at night you camp together with the same folks which makes for an awesome environment. We played tons of card games each night after the walk, I amazed yet another group of people with my card shuffling skills. The highlight of the walk was on the 3rd day when we got to what I called “holy-shit falls” because that’s all I could think as I was walking up to it. It’s actual name is Sutherland falls and it stands at a towering 580m (1,904ft.) It sounds like a jet engine going at full tilt and that’s what first caught my attention because I thought a plane was going overhead only to find it peek out of the trees shortly after to which I exclaimed “oh-shit.” It’s pretty neat after you get over the fact that there is this torrential amount of water falling down not more than 30ft in front of you (it was the only shower I got on the entire 4 days) and they actually encourage you to go stand behind the waterfall (I passed since I had my camera with me.)
Pictures really can’t do the place justice and I don’t find myself disappointed after doing it. I think it adds to the allure the fact that you have to catch a boat to and from the track which is how they really regulate how many people a day get onto the track. I thought that they had found a nice balance between commercialization and allowing access to the track, any more people and it would have been crowded but there were times throughout every day when I could walk for hours without seeing another soul.
When we finally made it to Milford I had a few hours to blow as did a lot of other trampers as our bus wasn’t due until 5 o’clock. So a bunch of us did a scenic cruise through the Milford Sound (the difference between and sound and fiord? A fiord is created by glaciers while a sound is created by rivers) So technically it’s Milford Fiord since it was created by a glacier. The captain was quite nice and drove us under a waterfall which more than made up for me missing standing underneath Sutherland falls and we got to see some dolphins playing around in the water. It ended with a rainbow under Mitre Peak (most photographed peak in New Zealand they say) Quite a nice end to a long trek.
The cast of characters was pretty broad. Though meeting 4 people from Montana was somewhat strange (2 separate groups of 2 from Montana) a pair of touring cyclists from Nebraska and a smattering of internationals made for an interesting group of people. I met a couple of girls from Wellington who have promised me some curry when I get up back around that way which should be good.
Being back on the road is definitely a nice feeling, although I come back to the road quite frigid. My toes normally don’t warm up until around noon and I must look quite silly wearing almost half the clothes I own. I sure hope the coast is more temperate than it is up the center here. Tomorrow I plan on hitting the highest paved road in New Zealand on the way to Wanaka.