~ Milford Track - Day 1

This morning started quite nicely – we didn’t have to leave our hostel till 9:15 so we had time for showers (the last for quite a while!) coffee, breakfast, and a wee bit of blogging. The computers here have been somewhat frustrating – slow! – and fussy about payment. We’ve managed to get blogs out there each day, but I would really like to get photos as well. Hopefully things will be better Sunday night – they have tons of the computers at the hostel where we’ll be staying.I’m sitting on the top bunk in a hut on the Milford Track. This hut holds 20 or so, so people and sand flies keep coming and going, but it’s a friendly, well-lit place so it’s all good. There’s a nature walk at 5, and we may try to play some cards before we go.To get here involved a bus ride with a slightly sassy and informative bus driver, an hour-and-a-half ferry ride, and a leisurely 5K walk. Oh and TONS of incredible scenery. The ferry had lovely seats inside, but we spent the entire ride on top, bracing for the wind, lurches, and occasional spray. Patrick & Ben took some incredible photos, and I got to know Mette, a girl from Denmark. She is funny and interesting. I did have to assure her that we did know that Denmark is not a province of Germany NOR the capital of Sweden, as other Americans she has met have believed.We took our time getting started on the walk, and Joerg (pronounced Yerg), a German guy who’s been in Australia and now works for the NZ DoC (Dept. of Conservation – the ones who run this walk) waited up for us and wandered the 5K with us. He’s going to be a Visitor Center guide for them, based out of Queenstown, so he’s taking this hike to be knowledgeable about it when giving recommendations. He’s great to talk to because he knows a lot about the area. He had to wonder a bit at 4 crazy Americans who get excited about ferns growing out of trees, the color of the undersides of the beech trees here, goofy lichen and fungi, and pretty much every view we stumbled across. I’m guessing we put him over, though, when Ben, Patrick & Tom hopped into swimsuits and then jumped 10-15 feet into the clear, frigid Clinton River which the Milford Track has been following so far. What with pauses for lunch in an achingly remote & beautiful valley (with helicopters hovering in & dropping off supplies for a luxury hut, and beautiful black-and-white ducks that wave yet to i.d. soaring overhead) and to wander about the river’s edge to skip stones and climb on rocks, there’s really nothing to complain about. Even the sand flies – though they made Ben’s lip swell up – are nothing to stable flies, so we refuse to complain about them!