JIPP TRAVELS

So we did our first and second day at Milford Track without any problem. The most challenging part only came on the 3^rd day. From Mintano Hut, we had to climb for about 600m to the highest point of the whole trail without a single drop. The weather was OK in the beginning and I was enjoying taking in the view and snapping a lot of pictures until it took an ugly turn just before I reached the world-famous Mackinnon Pass.

It was still raining when I reached the memorial plaque dedicated to Quintin Mackinnon – a Scottish New Zealander explorer who was the first person (together with his team of course) to find a passage that cuts across the Milford Sound known today as the Milford Track. Unfortunately, he went missing while sailing across the Lake Te Anau during one of his following trips to Milford Sound and although his wrecked ship and belongings were later discovered, his body was never found.

By then the wind was howling like crazy and the temperature dropped to a sub-zero. Even the Columbia thermal jacket that I had on was soaked and my gloves were fully drenched so my hands were half-frozen. I took a little escape from the cold at the Mackinnon Pass Shelter and ate a chocolate bar for lunch before continuing my journey down to our last overnight stop called Dumpling Hut.

The view at the Mackinnon Pass would have been one of the highlights of the whole journey but the bad weather and the thick fog had obliterated what would have been an amazing view. Even the toilet which is considered the most beautiful toilet in the world due to the breath-taking view that we could see from it was totally obscured by white clouds that hung adamantly all across the valley.

But then you know there is a saying that God is always fair – and it is especially true when I was right there descending from the Mackinnon Pass to the Dumpling Hut. Just when I thought the rain was a total disappointment, I could not believe my eyes when I saw dozens (probably hundreds!) of waterfalls thundering their ways from the mountain tops right to the deep valley and it all happened right before my eyes! For a moment I stood right there frozen with my mouth gaping open in a total disbelief that everything that I was seeing was real. It was so OMFG!

But then, I had to keep reminding myself to keep moving. I gotta say the descending part from Mackinnon Pass to Dumping Hut was the most challenging part of my trek at Milford Track may be because I had never been good in descending. My knees were groaning and it was one of those times that I really regretted I did not bring a trekking pole with me. It would have been very much useful.

When I finally arrived at Dumpling Hut, I was totally exhausted. I had the stamina but the constant descent had given my legs quite much of a problem. The Dumpling Hut is located in a deep narrow valley where you could see the beautiful mountain tops with a waterfall gushing down from one of its crevasses. In fact you can hear the thundering sound of the waterfall as it hits the bottom rock and the splashes are sometimes blown by the wind and reach the hut. It was just so unreal.

Dumpling Hut

We spent most of the evening at the kitchen – and so was everybody else. It was our last day at Mildford Track so we’d eat whatever there was to eat. Some of the other trekkers would come to us to offer food and although most of the food was awful (at least to our Asian tongue), we’d still have a taste just so that we’d know what these guys been eating for the past few days.

Despite the exhaustion, it took me quite a while before I could finally force myself to sleep. In fact, I was still half-awake when somebody nudged at my back. I was having my earphones on so the nudging made me jolt in surprise. Through a blurred vision I saw an angry face right by my bed so I took off my earphones and asked in confusion what it was that she wanted.

“You snore. I can’t sleep”

And almost compulsively I asked, probably more loudly that I had intended “are you sure it was me?” and I heard her murmur something but I could not quite get what she was saying. I wanted to get off the bed and confront her – asking her as to what she was expecting of a room shared by dozens of people, and that earplugs were not created for nothing but I was too lazy to get off the bed in the dark. I remember thinking that I might injure myself because I was on the upper deck and it was dark.

Then I was woken up about an hour or so later – by a cacophony of sounds that came from every direction. I guess the trick was not go to bed too early. LOL!

Inside the Dumpling Hut

It was only the next morning at breakfast when some of the trekkers with whom we share the room came to me and ask “Was it you that got shouted at last night?” to which I replied “I guess it was”. Then a male trekker from the US said “Oh gosh. She and her friends talk a lot, very loudly, and yet she can’t even tolerate people snoring?”.

Then a lady joined in and said “I was still awake when she came to you. In fact most were still awake because it was still pretty early. We heard her jump from the upper deck right to the floor. The thumping sound of her feet landing on the floor was quite loud”.

“You were so patient. We were actually expecting you to retaliate” “Don’t worry. We in the US are nice people. She does not represent us as a whole” she said referring to the girl’s country of origin which as USA.

To tell the truth, I really think they exaggerated it (and I was not surprised. There were Americans after all). It’s not like she actually shouted at me. It was just a little bit of nudging at my back and an angry face that I saw in the dark. LOL.

It was another long walk on our last day at Milford Track. The trail was mostly flat but it really felt like there was no end to it. It was raining most of the time so I couldn’t really take pictures. Of course there were more waterfalls and I actually walked right under them at times so I’d look up and watch in amazement at the roaring plunge and splattering of water as they parted ways and created smaller waterfalls down to the bottom of the valley.

The Giant Gate

There were blockages due to fallen trees so I had to maneuver my way a bit every time.  After what felt like such a never ending walk, we finally arrived at the end point of Milford Track. Called the Sandfly Point, the view from there was majestic, almost unreal. The snow-capped mountains rise dramatically above the lake (which I later found out was part of a bay that stretches out to Cook Seachannel). I just stood there in sheer amazement before I suddenly felt a wave of itchy dots on my face, my neck and almost every other part of my body.

The itching was so sharp and sudden it felt like a wave of electric shock or something. Then I realized that I had been swarmed by sandflies, the protectors of Milford Track. I ran to the hut which was fully sealed and waited for another half hour before a boat came fetching us, taking us across the bay towards the little town of Milford Sound.

I would never forget the scenery that I had the privilege of seeing that day as we crossed the bay amongst the beautiful mountains. Even until now I still feel like it was more like a dream and not real. I remember looking at a beautiful waterfall that gushes out from the mountain edge and plunges right into the blue lake below and we were not far from there and looking at it in amazement. I had never seen anything like that in my whole life.

It was raining when we were docked at Milford Sound, so we had to run into the ferry terminal so that we would not be drenched and spared ourselves from the consequences later. It was so cold so it was always a good idea to stay dry. There was nothing much to do at Milford Sound and it was especially so when it was raining and we were trapped inside the building.

Milford Sound bus terminal

The bus was already there when we arrived but it would not leave until the scheduled departure time. Somehow it was such a relief when the bus finally left, taking us back nearer and nearer to civilization. Milford Track was beautiful but it was also very wet and cold and I could not wait to return to the warm embrace of the sun.

That bus actually took us along the Milford Sound Highway which is considered the most beautiful highway in the world. But it was raining and most of the time the window panes of the bus – although wide to provide passengers with good view of the scenery along the way – were heavily moistened with droplets of rain it was almost impossible to see through. The bus also took us through the world-famous Milford tunnel and I was surprised to see how ‘traditional’ the operating system was. We had to wait up for about 10 minutes, probably to give way to the vehicles that come in from the other direction, before we were allowed to pass through.

I had some of the best times in New Zealand when I was up there in the mountains of Milford but I felt so much relieved when we were finally back at the much sunnier Te Anau. We stayed at the lakeside Te Anau Backpackers which had a large veranda that faces down to the lake and towards the evening sun – which was fortunately still intense at 4pm because it was summer. It felt so good to be sitting there and soaking in the sun that I had been longing for when I was up there in the rainy mountains.

After taking a quick shower, we went down to the town to look for a good restaurant where we indulged ourselves deeply in a large spread of meal to celebrate the wrapping up of yet another adventurous part of our trip in New Zealand.

New Zealand was not really in my #bucketlist, but Milford Track was. I first saw it featured on Globe Trekker (TLC) and instantly fell in love with this place. I told myself that I had to go there, sooner or later.

When my friend since childhood Frank suggested that we went to New Zealand, I gave him a yes even before I gave it any further thought. We wanted to go there in 2016, then I found out that getting a slot for the Milford Track was not that easy. Considered the finest trail in the world, trekkers from all over the world wanted to do this trail as much as we probably did.

Believe it or not, I actually had to do the booking almost one year in advance. Usually they’d announce the opening date (and time) for booking on their website so I had to sit in front of the computer minutes before it was set to open. They tend to postpone the date several times, so I had to check the website for the latest announcement like every now and then. Once it was opened, hikers from all around the world would start scrambling for a slot. And true enough, it was selling out faster that I had expected. In a matter of an hour or so, most of the dates were booked out.

We only bought our plane tickets to New Zealand after we have secured a slot for the Milford Track.  I really thought everything was going to be easy from there on, but I was wrong. None of us bothered to study more about the trek than we ought to, and the consequences were quite bad – well, almost. The very first mistake we made was to assume that everything was provided for – the food, the guide and the facilities – and that all that we had to carry with us was our trekking outfits and all the basic necessities to keep us going in the jungle for the whole four days. It turned out that we were wrong.

I remember how we were doing our last-minute shopping in preparation for the trek at a supermarket in Queenstown when I suddenly felt the urge to do one last quick search on the internet. Then I found out that we as independent trekkers (as opposed to guided trekkers where almost everything was provided for) would not be provided with anything at all but a bare mattress and stoves and that’s it. We had to bring our own sleeping bag, food stuff and even cookery and utensils!

By then we only had less than half an hour before the supermarket closed its doors so we had to run all over and grab in whatever that we felt most necessary. In the end we had to spend some NZD150 (more than MYR400) on cookery, utensils and food stuff! When I come to think of it now I am so glad that I did that one last google search at the supermarket because there was no way we could ever survive in the jungle for four days without food!

So, early in the morning the next day we left from Queenstown to a beautiful small town further to the South called Te Anau. We registered at the Fiordland National Park Visitor Centre (one of the younger staff was very rude wtf!). After parking our car at a secure spot, we joined a dozen other trekkers on a bus to Te Anau Down where we were joined by a few more dozens others.

Going to the starting point of the trail required us to ride on a boat across the beautiful lake of Te Anau. It was supposed to be one of the most exciting parts of the trip but a heavy rain had to force the boatman to dislodge all the canvas covers to avoid us from being drenched by the rain so all we could see was the splattering of water on the transparent windows.

Quite miraculously the rain paved way for a clear weather once we arrived at the starting point. Almost choked with emotion, I could not believe that we were really there – at the starting point of the finest trail in the world!

It was a light and easy 5km walk on our first day at Milford Track. But the beauty of Milford Track captivated us right from the beginning of the trail. The rivers are so beautiful and the water is so clear I could actually see the layer of pebbles and the submerged dead logs underneath. In fact I could even count the pebbles if I had all the time in the world that I was not crazy enough to do something so unnecessary like that. I can’t even begin to describe how beautiful the forest and the mountains were.

Our first stop was Clinton Hut. It consisted of two separate rooms with 20 bunks in each of them. Since we took the last boat, we were the last ones to arrive. I instantly noticed that we were the only Asians among the trekkers – apart from a group of elderly from Korea. After having some quickly-prepared noodles for early dinner, we took a little walk to the wetland forest which was a beautiful swamp area covered with thick layers of carpet-like mosses. It is facilitated with walkboards so visitors do not have to step on the layers of mosses and spare themselves from getting stuck in the mud or something.

Even after we returned to the hut, it was still early and the sun was still adamantly high over the horizon (it was summer after all and the sunset was at 9pm!) so we did not have anything to do but slipping into our sleeping bags and waited until our eyes and brains surrendered to a deep sound sleep.

The real journey only began the next day. We were advised to leave early because there was a possibility of a heavy rain that might threaten to flood parts of the trail. Trekkers getting stuck due to flooded trails is a common occurrence at Milford Track and we did not want to be part of the statistics. Still we could not leave until 8.30am because everybody was taking turn in using the kitchen.

It was a 16.5km long trek along a beautiful valley with dramatic landscapes of mountains on both sides. The trail was very well paved so we didn’t really have to watch our steps and it allowed us to focus on taking in the view instead. It was like walking in a fairy land or probably a museum of nature or something. Quite true to the weather forecast, the rain would suddenly come without warning and stop just as suddenly as it had come.

But then the rain was not really a bad thing entirely. It carried with it the formation of so many waterfalls from the mountains and created such a surreal landscape of nature. I was totally overblown. The Secret Lake for instance is a lake right in the corner of the valley where several waterfalls plunged right into it from wherever they come from up there. I had never seen anything quite like it ever in my life. But then the view of waters cascading down the mountains and into the valley was something that I had the privilege of seeing almost all along the trail. It was surreal – so out of this world to say the least.

Every now and then we’d be met with a bird that appeared to be unbothered by our presence. In fact, some of them would come close to us and even beaked at our shoes. I’m not sure if they were too used to cross paths with humans or it was just their natural tendency to be curious with anything that looks different. In fact I had to run from some of them when they appeared to come straight to me as if launching an attack or something.

It was almost five in the afternoon when I finally arrived at the second over-night stop called Mintano Hut. It was drizzling when I got here so me and Frank didn’t really have anything to do but settling in our beds and waited for our heads and brains to shut down naturally.

One thing I gotta tell you about Milford Track is that the whole track is haunted by these little flying creatures called sandflies. They are said to be protectors of Milford Track right from the beginning of time and their history with the world-renowned trail is very much well-documented. In fact, the last stop of the track is called Sandfly Point which is evident to the fact that their existence at Milford Track is very much recognized.

Mintano Hut

These little creatures are very aggressive and they will suck you dry before you know it. The effects of their bites are almost immediate and they’ll send you into an itching frenzy so bad that you wish you had more than a pair of hands to scratch the itches away. Unfortunately, the itches don’t go away that easily. Their saliva will keep the bitten spots itching for many days or even weeks to come. In fact, they still itch almost a month after I returned to KL.

The most challenging part of the trail came the next day.