The first 2 days of the hike were awesome. It was sunny and warm outside. The first day's hike was only 5 km, and the second day was about 16 km. We took our time, taking plenty of breaks to enjoy the beech forest, the moss, the rivers, the waterfalls, the mountains, and the wee birds ("wee" is not a type of bird; rather, Kiwis tend to use the word "wee" alot before any noun). There were about 40 people on our hike. The huts were equipped with bunk beds and kitchens with gas stoves, and flushing toilets and sinks with freezing cold water. But no showers. In the evenings, everyone cooked and played cards after dinner. On the first night, Dianna, Maya, Amit (Maya's boyfriend), and I played cards, and on the second night we added Ron to our card playing group. Ron is a fellow Californian. The card games were alot of fun, as we had quite a few laughs. On the second night I got tired of brushing my teeth with ice cold water, so I did what they do in Navsari, my family's village in India. I boiled some water in the pot, mixed it with cold water, and brushed my teeth and washed my hands with that. It was quite nice--kinda like getting a spa treatment--not! Anyhow, below are some photos from the first 2 days of the hike.
The third day was a bit more challenging. The rain came pouring down. We had to climb uphill for about 2 hours (500 meter elevation gain) to get to the McKinnon Pass. At the top, the winds were about 100 km per hour--no joke! I thought I would get blown away several times. We often stopped, sat low, and held onto a rock, waiting for the winds to let up a bit. But the winds never did let up. So we just kept on going, trying to get through it in one piece. There was a shelter at the top, which was shaking alot from the heavy winds, and was being held down by these cords. There was a gas stove in the shelter, so we were able to warm up with some hot tea. Luckily, we got out of the shelter without the shelter being blown away. When we left the shelter, the winds were still really violent. It was all downhill from there, literally (1,000 meter elevation decline). It took several hours of hiking down a rocky, wet trail before we got to flat surface. When we finally made it down, there was a side trail (about 4-5 km return) leading to Sutherland Falls, which is New Zealand's highest waterfall (500 meters). The waterfall was quite spectacular. Some others in the group opted not to take the trail to Sutherland Falls since we had so much water that day (from the heavy rains) that they didn't want to see any more water! Can't blame them. I didn't take any pictures the third day because it was raining too hard and my camera is not waterproof.
After the return trip from the waterfall, it was about another hour to the hut. We got to the hut, and found out that several members of the group were ill--vomiting, diarrhea. And within the next few hours, some more members of the group started getting the same virus, one by one, with hardly any notice. By the end of the night, at least a dozen people had the virus, and all you heard was people vomiting. I got a bit nervous, hoping I wouldn't get it. Though I tried not to think about it, I was thinking about it, you know? I didn't get what the others got, but that night (the last night) I suffered from another medical condition, and I had to get helicoptered off the trail the next morning! (For those of you who know about my wee helicopter rescue in Hawai`i, please try not to laugh too hard). :) Anyhow, the others that were sick the night before decided to walk the 18 km on that last day, but I wasn't so ambitious, so I just requested the ranger to have me choppered out of there. I was just too weak to even get out of my sleeping bag, let alone walk 18 km with 20 pounds on my back. The helicopter ride was quite beautiful. People pay alot of money to take helicopter rides over that area! :) The paramedic pointed out Sutherland Falls from the helicopter, the waterfall I had hiked to the day before, and he said something to the effect of, "it's much easier seeing it from up here!" Haha!
I felt much better after I was able to take a shower and change into some clean clothes at the hostel back in Te Anau. I think that was the longest I've ever gone without a shower--about 3 days. And it's even nastier when you're hiking all day and getting all sweaty, and not showering. Once I got back to Queenstown, I ran each load of laundry through the washer about 3 times, just to get all the stank out of my clothes that I had worn for those 3 days.
So that was my Milford Trek experience. I think I'm going to cancel the 5-day, 50 km hike I booked for February in the Abel Tasman National Park. I think I'll be quite happy just doing a one-day hike in the Abel Tasman. :)
Well next week I take off for Nelson, the wee beach town in the northern part of the South Island, where I'll be living for the remainder of my time here in New Zealand. Nelson supposedly gets the most sunshine hours in all of New Zealand, which will make me quite happy cuz I need to get my tan back! I hope I'll be able to keep blogging from there!
