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 1960’s 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 they’re 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 you’re neurotic, boiling or treating it doesn’t hurt (we brought along a SteriPen). Aside from those accommodations, it’s 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 couldn’t 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 aren’t 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 isn’t able to scan the DOC inventory for hut availability.
Our tickets for the Milford Track
The Huts
