Saturday, March 29, 2008
Milford Sound
The Milford Track is one of the most famous hiking trails in the world. Considered top 10 by National Geographic, and one of the 3 trails that we hiked in NZ. Our trip was actually designed for trekkers, and we all had a fair bit of hiking experience. Some of the members had climbed in other countries around the world, and some had climbed the top 100 mountains of Taiwan. ( which are taller than Mt. Cook ~ but no snow )
We booked a YEAR in advance, to get placement for this trail. It’s limited to only 40 people/day.
I was under the impression that we’d be hiking within the Milford Fjord ( Milford Sound), but in fact, the 54km ( 33mi.) trek was within the mountains, and the endpoint was Milford Sound.
You might wonder why I post a picture of the Sound, and not the trail itself. Well, to be honest, I enjoyed the trail a lot. The scenery was beautiful, and the water was incredibly pure. I drank from the rivers there all the time. The water was very sweet. ( literally )
But I don’t know if I would rank it as very spectacular. I have seen many views all over the world that are equally as beautiful. Some right in the Canadian rockies at home.
The Milford Sound though, was great. It was the first time I have seen a fjord, and one major reason why I was in NZ.
However, the fjordland national park ( we did A LOT of national parks ) rains at least 2 out of 3 days in the year. Incredible amounts of rain. So of course, we had a cloudy, and somewhat rainy day when we were at the fjord.
I won’t complain though, because during the trek we had good weather, with minimal rain. Also, after we finished, and did a boat cruise around Milford Sound, the rain came down in torrents. We were able to be safely within the lodge by that time. I would say that timing was good.
