Friday - Monday, April 13 - April 16: The Milford Track

Day 1 - Friday:

The weather was fairly crap, which lead to reconsider whether I wanted to go on the Milford Track. Eventually I decided to go and let destiny determine the outcome. This first day was not special in any way. I took a bus some 25km north of Te Anau to Te Anau Downs. Then a boat to the beginning of the track. The area is called "Fiordland" as it has many fiords. At the boat bording place I met 5 American exchange students, in no particular order: Anna, Heather, Jake, Joel, and Karen. After the boat there was a 5km walk to the first hut.

A few words about the Milford Track: It is supposedly easier than the Kepler or Routeburn. Indeed the terrain is easier, however, since I was doing it alone, I ended up using my large backpack, which weighed a ton and made the whole things quite a bit more challanging.

The evening in the hut was interesting. I played cards (Yaniv) with the Americans. Team Israel (me) won the game. For the first time I got to get those 50pts you get when hitting 100... What was interesting about this evening was the fact that a couple of the Americans were singing some songs that invovled Jesus. It made me wonder. The evening ended with them asking me if I wanted to join their praying. I chose to observe, rather than actively participate. Quite interesting. Long story short - they goi to Bible school. Oh Yea!
I learned from my experience in the Routeburn that Nutella gets hard in the morning because of the cold, so it's hard to spread it on bread (which is my breakfast). The solution was obvious: Sleep with the Nutella. Works like a charm.

Day 2 - Saturday:

Last night's prayers were surely answered. The weather was brilliant. No cloads, no rain. The walk was a 16.5km walk, with lovely views of mountain on both sides (as the walk is in a valley). Gorgeous day indeed. I packed loads of food for fear of being hungry. The down side is that your pack is really heavy. The up side (other than not getting hungry) is that you literally eat your pack away.. So what do I eat on these tracks: Nutella on bread and some tea for breakfast. 1 can of tuna with two slices of bread and an apple for lunch. Dinner consists of mash potatoes, beans, noodles, and tuna with an orange for desert (yes, it weighs a lot to carry, but tases really good!). Then there are munchies: 1 large chocolate bar + 1 chocolate cookie - Yummie!

More card games in the evening with Team America. This time we played this game called BS. Won once, lost once.

Today I realized what I had forgotten from Mt. Whitney hike back in the states. The camera battery gets low in the morning due to the cold. The solution was obvious - Sleep with the camera. So from this point on I slept with the Nutella and the camera.

Day 3 - Sunday:

Yet another gorgeous day. The day started with a climb up to the top of the mountain (I forget the name). The views were spledid. Indeed the best track I've had thus far (not to take away from the other tracks, which were great). No cloads, a very vert clear day. The fiolks at the DOC say that it rains every 2 out of 3 days in this area of NZ, as it's the most wet area, with some 12 meters of rain per year! At the top I spent some 3 hours, taking my time. We (Anna, Karen, Jake, Joel and myself) also tried to climb up a side track (Mt. Hart), which is very steep, and we got about 2/3 up and stopped for fear of not being able to get back down. Heather stayed behind, and read Genesis...

I was walking faster than team america, and so as we headed down I went on my own since I still waned to have a side track for the highest waterfall in NZ (580m). So off I went all the way down and to the waterfall, which was very impressive indeed. Didn't do much this evening, as it was fairly late, and I had to wake up early the next morning to catch a boat at 14:00. Today was a 14km day plus about 4 or 5 for the warterfall excursion.

The evening was uneventful. No cards. I did talk to this American guy, named John, who emigrated to Australia some 20 years ago. He told me how 2 years ago, he and his wife, and their 9 year old boy and 12 year old girl went on a 6 month vacation in the US, where they did a lot of hiking and stuff. Apparently, they went once on a 9-day track. He carried 40kg, wife carried 20kg, girl 15kg, and little boy only 10kg... My my, I think their last name must have been Rambo...


Day 4 - Monday:

The weathter was fairly crappy but that was of no consequence. The two important days were Day 2 and Day 3 and those were great. I needed to get to Sand Fly point (end of track) by 14:00 - some 18km. I took no chances and left at 7:31 (earliest ever, and for the first time I did not leave last..). There were still some very nice views along the way. A few miles to the end I decided I just wanted to get there, so I gutted those miles. I arrived at roughly 12:24 to the end, with loads of time to spare. Also, it seemed I was first on the scene. What a strange feeling...
Since I head much time to spare, I got my new book out (titled "Time" by Stephen Baxter. It's SciFi) and started reading. Jake asked me about the book, and I was thinking, it's a science fiction book, much like what Heather was reading the other day, except that hers involved no science.

The boat at 14:00 took us to Milford (some 20 min away), where cruises can be taken across Milford Sound, which are lovely firods. The weather was crap, so I skipped that and hopped on the bus to Te Anau.

Last event of the day was dinner, cooked by myself. I went with the meat sauce and pasta. Quite good, but as always, too much..

Last last thing: I talked to Nir on the phone and since he was ahead of schedule (what a bloody wanker!) we decided to all meet two days earlier, which cut my time in Dunedin by quite a bit. So the plan was for me to go to Dunedin the next day (it's a scenic road with much to see and about 350km I think).