Day One of Milford Track
Trip Start
Jun 11, 2008
1
155
349
Trip End
May 14, 2009
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Milford Sound,
South Island,
New Zealand
Sunday, November 2, 2008
First thing was to get the 9.45 bus from the DOC Centre to Te Anau Downs. This took about 25 minutes and went through some fantastic scenery. We then had a 1 hour ferry ride along Lake Te Anau to Glade Wharf. This was awesome with some fantastic clear views of the surrounding snow capped mountains.
And then we were there, the start of the Milford Track. 4 days in the wilderness, just staying overnight in huts. The weather was still perfect so we got some great views as we walked along the river.
Here is the official DOC description of the 1st day - just a short walk so everyone can get started :
Day One, Glade Wharf - Clinton Hut
5 km, 1 - 1.5 hours
After a launch cruise from Te Anau Downs (1¼ hours
approx) there is a one kilometre walk to Glade House, the
first overnight stop for guided walkers. Just past Glade
House is the largest and the first of the nine suspension
bridges you will encounter. On a fine day this is a pleasant
lunch stop.
Independent walkers continue through attractive beech
forest along the banks of the Clinton River, for about one
hour, to the Clinton Hut, just before the 3-mile marker.
There are good swimming holes near the hut.
DOC Time : 2 Hours
Total Time : 2 Hours 15 minutes
Actual Walking Time : 1 Hour 18 minutes
We had lunch by the big swingbridge. It was great having our little picnic at the side of the river with the bush and the mountains surrounding us on all four sides. We made lots of stops today to soak up the scenery as we had plenty of time to spare. Also, the weather will get worse the closer we get to Milford Sound, so we need to make the most of the clear blue skies today.
We arrived at Clinton Hut at about 2pm and basically just chilled out all afternoon. It's just so fantastic to be doing this walk.
It was interesting to note that I had the big rucksack still and Lorna had the small day bag containing the food!!
This evening we had our first gourmet meal of the trip. It was a bag mix that apparently when you add boiling water to it, it turns into chicken tikka massala! Yeah, and Santa Claus will deliver it whilst riding butt naked on the back of a homosexual sheep that is the only daughter of the last Duke of Windsor!
As it happens it wasn't too bad, but I was pretty hungry and would probably have scraped some second hand pork scratchings out of a greasy, dirty ashtray at this time! However, consume the 'chicken tikka massala' we did and also treated ourselves to a fun size snickers bar and a cup of tea.
You can't actually buy food at the huts and there are no cooking utensils, so we......sorry, I mean, I, had to carry all that stuff with us! How fun.
After 'dinner', we had a few games of cards, planned where we would collapse tomorrow and then hit the sack.
