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New Zealand South Island (Milford Track and Sound, Abel Tasman, and more)

New Zealand South Island (Milford Track and Sound, Abel Tasman, and more)

Old Mar 19, 2013, 5:55 pm
  #1  
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New Zealand South Island (Milford Track and Sound, Abel Tasman, and more)

If you dont have the inclination to read through the entire report, Ive duplicated the best photos at the very top of the report.


Abel Tasman National Park


Nelson Lakes


Pancake Rocks


Mackinnon Pass on the Milford Track


Giant's Gate Falls on the Milford Track


Milford Sound

The air travel was not overly remarkable, so Ill cover it very briefly. Other contents include:
-The Milford Track, a 34 mile hike over 4 days with incredible scenery
-Abel Tasman National Park as a 2 day kayak
-Queenstown
-The Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers
-Curio Bay
-other scattered sites throughout the South Island


The flights were booked with UA miles. In the past year, transpacific award space on NZ has become as rare as hens teeth. As you can likely surmise, few people dream of United Economy in a 747 from San Francisco to Sydney on vacation, so there were plenty of award seats available. We chose to gamble on Business inventory opening up and lost, even with convincing the phone agents to charge us for Business up front and push the FF1/displaced business passenger, edge in the airport. Few of the agents in Chicago or San Francisco were familiar with the status, and the gate agents for our flight refused to research the issue because they were swamped and the flight was packed in Business and First anyway. Something similar happened on the way back.

United Economy in a 747 from SFO to SYD and back: clearly suboptimal. That said, it could have been worse. The FAs were actually very professional and friendly, more so than the FAs Ive met in Domestic First over the last year. The food was minimally edible, but the seats were freshly reupholstered and the interior was actually looking pretty good. With the help of empty adjacent seats, neck-pillows, zolpidem, and light reading, we survived. The Sydney airport has public showers, and at the end of our 40 hour itinerary, I was actually reasonably refreshed and rested. Its changed my view of flying in first or business versus economy. For day flights home from Europe to the East Coast, I might become a, rather go twice than in first, type. Another positive outcome: United messed up the Business to Economy refund process and so far Im sitting on an 180% refund plus 5,000 miles from Customer Care for the apathy and inability of the ground staff to do anything with the displaced Business/First passenger status, making the total cost about 32,500 miles roundtrip to New Zealand.


Our itinerary


DTW-ORD in a CRJ-700


The "Asian Pork" in UA Domestic First; fortunately it tasted better than it looked


The mountains east of San Francisco


United's Economy dinner


United's Economy breakfast

Our SYD-AKL Air NZ flight was affected by an engine issue on our scheduled 767. Fortunately, we were swapped for one of their TPAC configured 747s! Unfortunately, a baggage truck dinged a cargo door in Sydney, and our trans-Tasman flight was over 4 hours late. Air NZ was proactive in rebooking, and we were able to make the final AKL-NSN flight of the evening. Air NZs 747 economy product was slightly dated, but very enjoyable. The AVOD had a number of fresh selections including Lincoln and The Master. The catering was excellent for economy class, although looking a little LCC around the edges (soft drinks were an extra-charge, etc.).


Boarding SYD-AKL


Air NZ's economy lunch was slightly better than UA's catering


AKL-NSN


AKL-NSN

Our first destination in New Zealand was Abel Tasman. Abel Tasman is a very beautiful national park with a number of kayak guides and rental outfitters operating in the region. We chose a freedom (unguided) rental from The Sea Kayak Company, put our camping gear in, and headed out for a two day, one way itinerary (return via water taxi) that included camping on a beach with no one else that was accessible only from the water. We encountered some rough seas that were a bit nerve-wracking, especially for my girlfriend. That said, if you were not able to effectively self-rescue, there are enough other kayakers and boaters out in the park that you could very likely summon help with a whistle or flare if needed before being overcome by hypothermia, winds, currents, or the other things that can pose a real risk to sea kayakers. In my opinion, having kayaked a couple times before, being a strong swimmer, and comfortable around the water is probably enough to do a freedom rental, but there are plenty of guided options too.


Abel Tasman National Park





dickerso is offline  
Old Mar 19, 2013, 6:00 pm
  #2  
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Nelson Lakes

After leaving Abel Tasman, we headed south to Queenstown and the Milford Track. Among the highlights were the best meal of the trip at the Alpine Lodge in St. Arnaud, Pancake Rocks (be certain to go at high tide!), and the Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers.


Pancake Rocks


Franz Josef Glacier




Fox Glacier


The Fox Glacier valley; at the turn of the 20th century the glaicer extended past the last visible curve


Fantail Falls


The Blue Pools


Lake Wakatipu

Finally, we made it to Te Anau Downs to start the Milford Track.

The track passes through steep glacial valleys and by numerous natural wonders. It has been oft labeled, the finest walk in the world. Applying such a superlative about anything is probably never overly valuable, but as someone that has traveled extensively in natural areas, I will attest that the walk is something very, very special.

The track is a 34 mile hike over four days developed in the late 19th century by a guide named Quintin McKinnon. McKinnon and his successors ran the track as a commercial enterprise until the 1960s when the Freedom Walkers, movement were able to open the track up to non-guided walkers. Currently, a guided walk runs between $2-4,000 while an unguided walk was $280 including three nights in huts and boats to and from the track. There is a limitation of 40 guided and 40 freedom walkers per day, although everyone walks in the same direction and guided and freedom walkers depart from separate huts, so we routinely waked alone for 1-2 hours at a time; in no way did the track seem crowded. The accommodations provided by the Department of Conservation huts are not luxurious, but theyre a heck of a lot easier than backpacking. Sleeping bunks with mattresses and gas stoves are provided in the huts. There is running water and flush toilets at each overnight hut. The water is generally considered okay to drink, but if youre neurotic, boiling or treating it doesnt hurt (we brought along a SteriPen). Aside from those accommodations, its sort of like backpacking in that you need to bring your own sleeping bag and food. Every hut was manned by a ranger that provided one or two rich and enjoyable nature and history talks nightly. The rangers also compared names in the huts with the expected itineraries to ensure that people were making progress on the track. Overall, I would recommend freedom tracking to almost anyone except for people whose fitness level was very marginal for the track and couldnt train, people who really just want to be pampered for the money (I heard excellent things about the huts and food provided for the guided trackers), and people that arent able to secure one of the limited freedom walking spots. I booked our spots about 6-7 months in advance, and availability is usually gone ~4-5 months out, although cancellations do occur. Flight award booking skills are probably very applicable to the Milford Track if you decide to do it late, but as far as I know Expert Flyer isnt able to scan the DOC inventory for hut availability.


Our tickets for the Milford Track






The Huts







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Old Mar 19, 2013, 6:02 pm
  #3  
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The Mintaro Hut


Dipping in the lake below Mackinnon Pass after a long day of hiking


Mackinnon Pass


The view from the porch of Mintaro Hut


Clouds coming off of Mackinnon Pass


Mackinnon Pass shelter










Sutherland Falls, the highest in New Zealand and the fifth highest in the world (1,904 foot drop)


Any guesses?


Glowworms, a bioluminescent gnat that forms colonies which resemble a starry sky to confuse night-flying insects to fly into them


A tree avalanche crossing the track. The interlocked roots of the trees pull each other down.


The Arthur River



Bell Rock, a boulder that was hollowed out by a waterfall. The record for the most peole in the rock is supposedly 22.
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Old Mar 19, 2013, 6:04 pm
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Giant's Gate Falls


The boat back to Milford


Some of the other trampers we were hiking with


Milford Sound. For scale, the peak on the left (Mitre Peak) is 5,551 feet


Stop clubbing, baby seals.


Milford Sound


Milford Sound

After completing the track, we were happy to indulge in some of the more sedate tourist options of Milford including a cruise on the sound, a decent bar (The Blue Duck), and a “cabin” at the Milford Lodge. The cabins were basic, but the luxury of privacy, clean sheets, and hot food prepared by someone else was awesome following the track. The Sound and drive out of Fiordland were astounding. I’m from Colorado and accustomed to mountains, but the Sound features peaks rising straight from the sea to over a mile in height. The sheer drama of the landscape surpassed everything else I had experienced.


Our "cabin" in Milford, not bad


More glowworms


Milford Sound


The drive back to Te Anau


Homer Tunnel


The Alpine Fault of the Fiordland Mountains


The current sheep to human ratio on the South Island is about 8 to 1. Hopefully they won't rise up against the government.

Leaving Fiordland, we headed to the southern tip of the island including Curio Bay. Curio Bay features a 180 million year old petrified forest and is the nesting ground for rare yellow-eyed penguins. We waited in vain for over three hours in the cold to see the penguins waddle up to the nesting grounds, but gave up when the light gave out. The penguins are supposed to be a “guaranteed,” wildlife experience because they have to return to their nest and chicks nightly after hunting in the sea, but for some reason they sat out preening and drying until very late dusk on our visit. Ce’st la vie. What luck that the next morning we were treated to a penguin that wandered directly into our campsite. While keeping a respectful distance, we had the privilege of observing the penguin for close to an hour.


Curio Bay


The Curio Bay petrified forrest (~180 million years old). There's a yellow eyed penguin hiding at the top.


And the next morning there was one in the campground.




Purakaunui Falls


Nugget Point
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Old Mar 19, 2013, 6:07 pm
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We wrapped up our trip with a couple days in Queenstown. We did two award nights at the Queenstown Hilton, which were a treat following camping, trekking and staying in very economical accommodations all over the island. We were upgraded to a lakeside room based on Gold status and enjoyed the very complete continental breakfast.


Queenstown Hilton








Sunday farmer's market in Queenstown


TSS Earnslaw






Very warm and soft merino/possum blend. Possums are invasive and eat lots of Kiwi eggs so it's "green" to buy this to encourage more possum trapping.






ZQN-SYD



Queenstown doesn't have a taxiway, so the planes have to turn on the runway




Air NZ's economy lunch on ZQN-SYD


United's SYD-SFO economy dinner


Economy breakfast


SFO
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Old Mar 20, 2013, 12:29 am
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Brilliant report with some fantastic pictures! I'm very envious now but I'll have to try the Milford Track some day. What were the dates of your trip? Did people recommend certain months over others? You mentioned you've been on quite a few other great treks, what are some of your favorites?
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Old Mar 20, 2013, 12:52 am
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Amazing! I did a very similar trip report on the Milford Track and South Island about a year ago and your pictures simply put mine to shame. What kind of camera did you use? Thanks for sharing! ^
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Old Mar 20, 2013, 3:26 am
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Brilliant pictures. I did the Abel Tasman with a guided tour, which I can also recommend. Your story convinced me to do the Milford Track the next time.
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Old Mar 20, 2013, 5:15 am
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Makes me very sad, that we did not walk the Milford Track ... the pics are beautiful.

But we did, as a compensation, the Tongario Apline Crossing. In "Alpine Conditions" ...
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Old Mar 20, 2013, 6:59 am
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Thank you for posting these beautiful photos. It looks like you had an amazing time.
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Old Mar 20, 2013, 9:00 am
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Excellent TR and even better pix! Thanks for posting.
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Old Mar 20, 2013, 11:18 am
  #12  
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What - no kea pictures? Honestly, your superb pictures do great justice to New Zealand, as does this report. It was nice to see McKinnon Pass under better conditions. When I hiked the Milford back in 1984, we enjoyed a beautiful first day followed by nothing but rain for the rest of the trip. Climbing up and over McKinnon we were lashed by driving rain and 60 mph winds. Down in the valley, the Ada river had risen to the point where we were walking through waist deep water in parts of the track. Still, it was a great walk and your beautifully photographed report has been a nice stroll down memory lane.

I never did do the Abel Tasman - even back in the 80s and 90s it was a very busy track. Instead a did the Heaphy and Nelson Lakes tracks as well as all the ones out of Queenstown. I understand the Routebourn is reservation only now. I used to practically commute to Milford on that track. I knew all the hut wardens, most of whom brewed their own beer!
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Old Mar 21, 2013, 7:50 pm
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Very enjoyable report, thank you for sharing. I've long wanted to go to New Zealand but this only heightens the desire. Your glowworm pictures were my favorite btw.
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Old Mar 21, 2013, 10:48 pm
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OP, excellent photos! I was just there over the past 2 weeks and loved it. Didnt do the Milford trek but definitely toured the area. Awesome!
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Old Mar 22, 2013, 2:56 am
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Awesome report, thanks for sharing! I'm certainly no 'greeny', but it's sad to see how much the glaciers have receded since I was last there I was up in the Mt Cook/Pukaki Region a few weeks ago and the scenary, whilst different to Milford, is no less spectacular.
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