[Travel to New Zealand] My memories to 4 days Milford Track.

Coz I'm not a native in English, please let me know if there's any weird sentence, or better expression. Thank you!

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I've traveled to New Zealand with my husband in May, 2014.
At the final day, I met my father's friend in Auckland, and he asked us if we had done the Milford Trekking.
He explained a bit about the trekking and it sounded really great, but as you know, it was our final day for the trip. We didn't have any other choice, went back to Korea.

Well.. One autumn day at the same year, while I was drinking (I love drinking :")) with my friends, they told me they were considering to travel to New Zealand.
Thus, I talked them half jokingly
"Shall we go together?"
and it happened! And we evened decided to go for trekking!!

Milford trekking for normal people will be allowed from October to May which is spring to autumn in New Zealand.
There are two types of trekking. One is individual and the other is guided trekking.
I took individual one, and in case of it, I needed to walk 53.5km(but actually more than that, coz there are some other round-trip routes to see some things such as waterfalls, and etc) for 4days.
To join there, you should book it via an official website. I'll post it later about how to book, what to bring, and how to get there.

Btw, it would be better if I can attach the google map. It seems I should wait since this is a beta version. Thanks god! The font is much better than the font for Korean anyway :p

1st day

I've taken this photo while moving from Te Anau to the starting point of Milford Track.

I miss those blue blue sky, lake, and the wind. :'(
(In some countries like UAE and South Korea, it's not easy to see the blue sky all the seasons coz of the sand storm / air pollution. If you are fortunately live in a country that u can see it everyday... well.. I'll envy you :'( )

Finally, we arrived to the Milford Track! As soon as landed, I looked back, and I was a bit stressed, since I couldn't return but I should walk straight for 4 days. Frankly, I planned this trip for about 1 year, but never done the exercises. :p I wasn't really prepared for it.
Before entering to the track, we must clean our shoes! (Actually, you will be screened from the customs if you bring a tent and walkers. It should be cleaned before landing.) Anyway I think it's great to put this efforts to keep the environments.

Individual trekking is a lot cheaper than the guided trekking, HOWEVER, I needed to carry my sleeping bag, all the foods for 4 days, and etc. That's why my bag is sooooooo big. Because milford track is famous for sand-flies(similar to mosquitoes, but a lot stronger than that, I hate them!!!!!!!!!!), I wrapped my body with clothes, and etc. I also covered my back pack with rain cover since no one knew when the rain would come.

As I entered to the forests, I forgot about everything. I enjoyed the swaying bridges, forests filled with mosses.
To minimize the bag pack, I carried just one wide-angle lens. Don't expect a good quality for close-up photos :'(

The first day is simple! I was able to arrive to the Clinton hut within 1 and a half hour.
The mountain look like a mountain from South Korea. :$ No. I took it from New Zealand!

All the huts for the individual trekking provides us some big rooms where 10 to 20 ppl can sleep. There are beds, but no bedding or pillows. That's why we need to carry the sleeping bag. I used my bag as my pillow.
IF YOU'RE SUFFERING INSOMNIA, DON'T WORRY! I used to have it, too, but I fell a slept within 10 mins. (Frankly, I brought my diary with a pen, but I've never used it. You may notice that there is no electricity. You're right. You cannot charge your whatever. And there's no signal. You cannot use your phone at all. Your phone is your watch, sometimes it becomes a camera, that's all.)
From the kitchen, you'll only get light, gas, matches, water, tables, and chairs.

As soon as I arrived to the hut, I ran to the room to occupy my bed. (If your bed is far from the door, you can be far from those f****** sand-files.)
After that, I learned about the natures near to the hut from the grand papa ranger(He reminds me of Dumbledore) of Clinton hut. (However, I couldn't fully understand since he spoke in English. :'( )
I went back a bit, as the ranger suggested.
Firstly, I went to a riverside near to the hut. He said that it would be possible to see red deer if I was lucky, but what I saw was craps...
After that, I went to a swampy area which was really nice, and I was able to see Manuka flowers from there.

2nd day

I slept very well, and left the hut at 7 am. As you can see from the photo, it's still dark even at 7 am. You'd better bring your own head light. (And I'll post another place where you can use the head light later!)
It takes about 5 hours from here to the next destination, Mintaro hut.

You can see those extraordinary trees from the forests. It reminded me of the walking trees from 'The Lord of The Rings'.

You can walk a forest that a "handsome" elf will suddenly appear.
But it never happened to me. :p My husband appeared instead of it... (Don't ruin my fantasy!)

This is fern, which is a kind of symbol of New Zealand. Do you know that we eat some parts of ferns in South Korea? (I have no idea with North Korea. You may have eaten it already if you tried Bibimbap.) I couldn't imagine the ferns in South Korea because the ferns here were extremely huge. The round part of it was as big as my fist. Can you imagine that?

You can see trouts in the creek. I wanted to catch & bbq them, if possible. But license is needed to fishing it. (Otherwise, ppl won't bring their own food.)

The food, '전투식량' was soooooooooooooooooo great, but I don't know how I can describe it.
It's sold as a combat ration in South Korea, but It was different from C-rations. C-ration usually includes everything, such as cheese, biscuits, pasta(or whatever the main dish), and coffee/tea. This one was just for the main dish, but I loved it very much. It was a bibimbap which included steamed rices, chilly pastes, dried vegetables, and even bean paste soup. (I'm a pescetarian, so I chose a food which didn't include meats at all. You can order foods with meats if you want.)

I took the right photo on the 2nd day after arriving to the hut. These are the remaining for both me and my husband. Since I should bring my own food for 4 days, and leaving the trashes to the track is prohibited, I brought as smallest as possible.
If would be different I chose the guided tour, since it would provide us for the warm food and even drinks. Well.. I was(am(?) still young enough!

Most of the ppl there started the day with biscuits and tea, but you know, I was Korean who needed a hot soup even in the morning. My friends prepared some Korean instant noodles, and me and my husband prepared instant noodles from south east Asia. (Sadly, I cannot eat noodles from Korea, since I have allergies to red meats.)
You can buy some instant foods from the Milford track center in Te Anau, but I can definitely tell you that THEY ARE EXPENSIVE!


The second day starts with the dark forests which were filled with ferns.
After that, the forest was ended SUDDENLY, and I was able to see the blue sky and the mountains.
I cannot describe how I felt on that point. What I can tell you is all of us were soooooooooooooo excited!

Well.. It's not easy to see this kind of trekking course along the valley in South Korea. Going to a mountain in South Korea means I'm going upwards. Thus, It was much easier than what I expected.

I've enjoyed the road filled with the yellow flowers for an hour!
However, I became desperate for the water because I spent whole my bottle which was just 500ml before I met the uphill. I asked one of my friend to share me the water who had 1ltr bottle. He shared me the water, but you know, there was no GPS, we never knew how long we should walk till we find a new source of fresh water. He saved me.

When our bottles became empty, we were fortunately arrived to a lodge for the guided trekking.
Coz we weren't sure how long we should walk from here to the destination, we asked the staff there to get some water, and she showed us the tap!

After passing the lodge, I was able to hear the sound of water!

Can you imagine how fresh the water is? Most of the waterfalls are come from perpetual snows!
Well but.. I'm sorry to say this. I drank, and cleaned my feet from this creek :p (I guess someone else was drinking this.)

I could say that I had hard time for about one hour before I arrived to the 2nd hut. You can imagine, just one hour uphill is nothing, but if you meet it after 5 hours walks, it's a disaster.
After arrived to the hut, a lot of ppl tried to wash/swim at the near river, but I heard it was extremely cold. I frankly didn't try it at all, and instead, I just washed my hair, teeth, face and feet with the cold water. I agree that I was dirty. :p
People with the guided trekking were able to take the hot shower. But I didn't pay for that.

3rd day

I couldn't sleep more because the Kea birds' sounds.

They came early in the morning, and tried to pick everything up. I saw they took some socks, tried with the shoes, and even my husband (for what?). They look like dumber, but wonderful when they were flying high.

The third day 3 started with the dark forest again with full of trees and ferns. Some roots of the tree were used as stairs, there were many beautiful flowers all along the roads.

The route of the 3rd day includes uphill. I was tensed a bit, but it was easier than I expected. It was because I already climbed half of the mountain on the second day, I was refreshed after sleeping, so excited to see the scenes, and it actually took just an hour and a half.

I finally arrived to the Mackinnon Pass!! There was a lake on the mountain. :D It seems that lakes are everywhere in New Zealand. (Thus we became bored to see the lakes at the end of the travel, we changed our route.)

Look at the magnificent view! I love Milford Track since It gives us the different views everyday!

Wow, I walked a lot already!

We had a lovely coffee time in a shelter near to the Mackinnon Pass. Maxim coffee is the best on mountains. :D
To reduce the weight of the peanut butter, I added it to my coffee, and it also tasted good!

This is The toilet with the best view in the world. Only one person can go inside, and there's a window on the door, thus a companion should wait outside so that no other can come.

We were lucky, so no rain came during the trekking. However, since it never rained, the waterfalls were small.

The third day was the hardest day for me. I sprained my ankle one week before I came to the track. Thus I came here with the supportive band.
Till the uphill, it was okay, but there were so many moving stones on downhill. So I asked my friends to go first, and I and my husband walked slowly.
Thankfully, I was able to meet cold creeks, and they were so helpful for my swollen ankle.

The pass near to Dudleigh fall is so rocky and steep, wood stairs are prepared. How did Sir. Mackinnon who firstly found
this route passed here?

There were two roads on the way to the 3rd hut. One was for the hut, the other was a round trip pass to the Sutherland waterfall which was the tallest one in the South island of New Zealand.
I asked a person who was already back from the waterfall how it was, and he sad "It was fantastic, but has a little bit upper hill". I shouldn't have believed in a person that I met in a mountain.
It wasn't just a little bit at all. I was so exhausted, keep saying F word, and wanted to give up. There even was one child who fainted on the pass. However, we kept going and finally met the Sutherland waterfall! It was something like a enormous air-conditioner + humidifier.

I sat, ate apple under the sun, and felt the wind. What a happy moment! Btw, New Zealand apples are soooo good!!! (I hate galas.)

This photo was taken after returning from the waterfall.

We finally arrived at the final hut.
All the signs & messages posted on the wall in kitchen were for the professional mountaineers who comes here during the winter without booking. The kitchen here also only provides tables, chairs, gas, and water.

The color of water here is a bit yellow. I suspected if the pipes here were rusty, but the ranger here spoke that it became yellow because of tannin from the fallen leaves. There were no other choice than believe in it.

Around the final hut, there were more sand-files than the previous huts.
I hate them!!! It looks like a small fly, but if it bites, itch goes longer than it of mosquito. For me it remained for about 2 weeks.

After the meeting, I went to the river near to the hut to clean myself. Ehhhhhh it was freaking cold. But I couldn't endure my dirtiness either.....

4th day

Calming lake.

I could feel that I was reaching the destination since I could see a river than a small creek.

There were a lot of tiny footprints of brown ducks. So cute!!! Interestingly, some of them even climb the mountain. I was able to see a few ducks on the pass.

I saw some more beautiful creeks and waterfalls, but I was totally exhausted, and wanted to finish this ASAP.

Finally!!!!!! See! This is the final point.

We booked a boat, but the most of the 4th day was just plain fields and we all became accustomed to walk for long time, we arrived 2 hours earlier than we expected. I worried if we should wait for 2 hours on that point, but thankfully the boat works again and again, and we were able to escape from the Milford Track.

Wow! This is a real world with civilization!!! But even Milford sound still doesn't support network at all. No signal, no data, no call. I was able to use the 3g data network near from Te Anau which takes about 2 hours from Milford Sound by a bus.
I thought I didn't need to walk more, but you know, we came early. So there was no bus from the port to the bus terminal. Thus, we walked one more hour. Well.. that's a piece of a cake..

As soon as we returned to Queenstown, checked-in to a hostel, we ran to a restaurant to eat meats, meats, meats and wine! Soooooo dirty, but we were happy!!

I'd never experienced a trekking even for one night, I worried about this travel. But the pass was much more easier than I expected. Thanks to my friend who prepared all the pots and gas stove for camping.
Me and my husband promised to try the trekking once again at ABC(Annapurna Base Camp, it takes a bout 6~7 days.) in autumn in some year. When can we leave?