~ Milford Track - Day 3

Today we got a good start – for us – our targeted start of 9:00 AM. That may not seem early, but to have cooked breakfast, cleaned it up, packed everything, and be ready to go by then – for four people – IS an accomplishment! Today should have been illegal. We were told to expect rain, increasingly, throughout the day. We didn’t get more than a drop till 4:00 PM. Since today involved crossing the MacKinnon pass, that meant we had absolutely stellar views of both the valley which we had just come through for the last 2 ½ days, and of our path for today. I hope the pictures will capture those views somewhat. It was hard work – going up 500m along switchbacks, and then – even harder! – coming back down 1000m (I know – you’d think going down would be easier. You don’t get as out of breath, but it really is harder in terms of navigating around rocks and “controlling” each downward step). The vegetation was great – we saw huge fuchsia trees – the biggest in the world is here, apparently – a few wekas (a flightless bird that’s sort of a second cousin once removed to the kiwi bird here), and heaps of keas.This morning around 6:30 I was awakened by a series of loud cries that sounded like a cross between a loud, distressed cat meow and a creaking door. A mob of keas was convening on our roof, with some birds soaring out to nearby trees and back again. I had a view of the helicopter pad from where I slept, and could see them occasionally congregate there as well. The kea is an alpine parrot, which no one seems to officially call pests, but they do eat rubber. (Including car parts and boot soles and rain jackets. They seem to have it out for the Danes in particular – one of their boots got it the first night, and one of their jackets the last.) But later today as they cried and soared across the valleys between the hut and the pass they really were beautiful, and their cries were perfectly fitted to the terrain and the far spaces. We took a detour to see Southerland Falls. That was brutal on our feet – even without packs – it was well worth it. We actually swam, well dipped actually, in the frigid spray. Probably the scariest thing we’ll do here (so far anyway)!The group has been awesome. We get along well, travel well, and laugh with and at each other well. The rain is starting to really pour, and I’m tired, so I think I’ll call it a night!