No, really, I’d wondered if even my influence could work on the legendary Fiordland weather, where it rains just about every other day, but although we had a slight drizzle on the first day after that it was 4 days of almost perfect weather. So I had a great time on the track, although it seems a lot better in hindsight than it sometimes did at the time. I ended up going on a guided trip as by the time I looked into it the track was booked out for independent hikers for the whole season. A terrible hardship I know, to not have to carry any food or a sleeping bag, but I did feel a bit lazy so took a second pair of boots with me as a penance (they’re really not very heavy though so it was only a small penance).
It takes most of the first day just getting to the track as you have to travel by boat to the head of Lake Te Anau, so I was getting pretty antsy by the second day to actually do some walking. It’s a pretty relaxed day, you spend it all in the Clinton valley following the Clinton river, which is extraordinarily pretty, and at this stage you’re still impressed every time you see a waterfall flowing down the steep valley walls (by the end of the fourth day you’re kind of used to it). I spent the day strolling along with Marc, another guided walker who also felt slightly uncomfortable with how easy we had it, and Laura, who was doing things the hard way (you should have seen the hunk of salami she had to carry around, if we had been snowed in on the track somewhere she could have saved us all from starving with that thing). We spent a lot of time joking about how different the experience was for each of us, her with her salami and us with our nightly showers and nametags to let the sandflies know we weren’t to be bitten (although longjohns and long sleeves help with that too).
Things were slightly less luxurious that night however as instead of being tucked up in my warm bed I spent most of it huddled on the toilet floor being really, really sick. Not sure what it was from but it wasn’t fun and left me really quite doubtful about doing a full days walking the next day, the third day being the toughest day of the walk with virtually all the climbing and descending. It was great weather though and once I got moving I thought I could manage it, if not be entirely enthusiastic about it. We’d just been discussing other people’s hikes the previous night where they’d had to deal with altitude sickness and food poisoning so I figured it would be good practice for that as I’m sure I’ll face the same thing eventually. So I made it, but I was completely exhausted by the end of the day, which is a shame because it’s the most spectacular day of the hike and even thought it’s the toughest I wouldn’t have had any trouble at all under normal circumstances. I was just too tired to do the side trip to Sutherland Falls (the world’s fifth highest waterfall) at the end of the day as well, so will have to go back and do it again someday.
The fourth day, after getting some actual sleep, I was pretty much back to normal again (although it was another few days before I could look forward to eating again) which was just as well as it was another beautiful day. This time we were following the Arthur River and there were more waterfalls, our lunch stop by the Giant’s Gate falls in particular was an amazing spot, and could have been almost tropical apart from the temperature of the water. Once the track was done we caught the boat across to Milford for a celebration there that night (and some of the worst pool I’ve played in my life). The next morning I got to watch the sun rise over Mitre Peak from a real hotel room for a change and went for a quick wander by the foreshore before our cruise on Milford Sound which although a bit shorter than I expected, manages to live up to the hype.
It was back to Te Anau after that and then on to Doubtful Sound for an overnight cruise. We got rain both days we were there, and no, my luck hadn’t deserted me, I actually wanted rain to check out the famous waterfalls it causes. And yes, there were lots of them and they were very nice, especially since I’ll be heading back to drought-stricken Australia and it could be some time before I see rain again. Back in Te Anau again I did a day’s walking on the Kepler track, just on the nice flat foresty bits, but it looks like a really nice track so will have to come back for that one for sure. Then it was back here to Queenstown to catch up with Katrin, Emily and Mayu who I’ve met here, as well as Lyn and Cec who I know from work back home. I’ve been doing a final round of all my favourite places to eat with everyone, and am due to catch up with the girls for dessert and hot chocolate one last time tonight before catching the bus back to Christchurch tomorrow. And then it’s on a plane Saturday and back home. It will be nice to have a break from travelling for a while, but I’ll miss the place terribly and as keen as I am to see new places I hope it won’t be too long before I get to come back.
