Milford Sounds

So there we were sitting in Layla’s little house half regretting the fact they we didn’t bike up to Te Anau or go visit Milford sounds, this was partially because we couldn't justify biking over 500km just so we could say “yeah this is pretty cool, should we bike back now?” However it seems that every person that we talk to always insists that we make the journey and then they continue to rant about how breath taking it is!!

Now normally we’d just hitch-hike if we couldn't be bothered biking an exceptionally long distance (such as when we headed back up to Fox river to go bush) except in this case there were so many roads leading to Te Anau that it just confused us!!! So instead of doing that I decided to jump on Couchsurfer which is an online social communication website that allows one to connect with random people interested in doing similar events. Within an hour of posting “is anyone keen for Milford sounds” We had a German girl named Sarah keen to drive us all up there in a few days if we split the gas.

Now because her CS profile had no photo and no last name, I jokingly asked if she was actually a big hairy dude and a weird internet pervert, she said she wasn't but you never know when using the internet!

The morning had arrived and we stood in our normal fashion of bare feet, board shorts, long sleeves and epic headbands, we were in the exact place where Sarah was to meet us. Within minutes a black SUV rocked up and inside was a very strange looking white man!!!! He looked at us, then at his phone, then back at us. We waved at him and he waved back…… At this point we were like “Al-right so it looks like Sarah is the name of a big hairy German man” “Is this weird? And should we be surprise, seeing as we were the ones who assumed Sarah would be a girl!” The man jumped out of his car walked around it and opened the boot, at which point I said “okay Wolf this was a bit unexpected but all good I suppose?” So we started walking towards the man…… Luckily to our relief he grabbed a bag out closed the boot and continued walking down the footpath. It was not Sarah!!!

This process re-occurred a few more times and we really started to wonder when Sarah would show up and who she’d be! She actually wasn't late we were just early. Anyway she finally arrived and to our surprise (I don’t know why we were surprised I guess we really thought she was going to be a dude) she was not weird at all!!!

Between Invercargill and Te Anau was a nice stretch of typical NZ coastline. However once in Te Anau things started to look really beautiful. There’s something about having a sunny day shinning down upon the surface of a wide spanning lake, with mountains sitting upon every exposed surface of the horizon, it always puts a smile on my face. From here all the way through until Milford was just one scenic after another. We actually forgot to take enough photos because it was just so overwhelming. Imagine 2km high fiords on both sides of you, almost every one caped in snow and ice, massive native trees intertwining with each other creating walls of green, red, yellow and brown. Waterfalls spawning out of massive stone fiords as if the earth was bleeding, native birds such as the south Island Kaka, Hawkes, bell birds, fantails, Weka, walking within sight and flying along the ridge lines. It even has one of the most exciting tunnels I've ever been through, enough in words though check out the photos we took :)

Unfortunately once in Milford after seeing the sight, unless you have money to go kayaking or to take a boat ride through the fiords there really isn't much there, even most of the hiking tracks are only accessible by water. So as in our case we had little to no money, we decided to take one of the tracks that isn't maintained or well known.

It was supposedly 230 minutes return, and we were leaving a little late around 2.30 pm. The track was rough and hard to follow

We really wanted to see this water fall though so we tried boosting it but Sarah the German chick was getting tired so she said for us to go ahead and that we would try catch her on the way back.. Anyhow Kurt and I boosted off, after about 30min we made it an open field, where all around us were massive fiords (2km high in every direction) directly in front of us was a glacier and to the left was a huge waterfall. Both appeared so closed, but it soon became apparent that it was an illusion caused by the height of the mountains.  

At this point the sun started to creep over the mountain and within minutes it started getting dark. I had to convince Taonui that it would be stupid to continue. As we had to make sure that Sarah was okay

The grass began to frost immediately and it started to get really cold, wolf said his hands were going completely numb. 

We decided to start making our way back to the track. Being in a fiord we had mountains on both sides so the light vanished within minutes of the sun dropping. 

As we headed back we heard a yell as Sarah desperately tried to find us; she was tripping out, but finding us helped calm her down from the panic that she was in.. We said “it'll be fine and we'll be out of here in no time… “ 

5 minutes passed and it was dark, probably the darkest dark I've ever experienced and the rooted trees made it difficult to stay on the track.

As the time passed we were all of a sudden no longer following it. We had no choice but to start bush crashing... it was insane... The Trees that had been growing here for the last 3 hundred years were all intertwined forming a huge intricate maze, and to make things worse no soil existed due to massive amounts of erosion, this meant roots where abundant and everywhere. Being careful we made our way making sure that none of us hurt ourselves. 

I took the lead and strangely had to battle my imagination as there was very little light and having the small light rays bouncing off the objects of the forest made it seem as if puddles where cliff drops and fern leaves massive boulders. Despite what we had ahead of us, we continued to stay positive.  

I climb over an uprooted tree and fell 5 feet into the earth through the mossy floor, my feet still floating in mid-air. I pulled myself up, regained my feet and continued. It became darker and darker... 

At least we had the confidence of knowing which direction would get us out, we knew this as all the fiords we had seen faced east to west, and as we were gaining altitude all the rivers would be flowing downhill and hence westwards, so once located we would continue with the river on our left and that would save us from going in circles, it was really dark enough for this to happen and using the stars was hard as most were blocked by the fiords. 

The longer we were all in there, the colder it got. Thankful we put our shoes on because the forest floor was no more than rocks, rivers, tree roots, tree stumps, and moss. 

At one point I nearly lost my cool,  I steered up at cliff face directly in front of us; I really wished we hadn't come across it.  We decided to go down stream to see if it cleared but it didn't.

I also tried climbing it and it could have been a good move but it was too dangerous for Sarah as there was nothing to hold on to and if any of us slipped it could have been tragic.

So I said “nah it’s too dangerous I can’t Fu#$%ing see, we have to go up stream.”  

Moving in the darkness was very tricky so we really had to feel with our feet.. After some time we finally got to a point where the cliff could safely be climbed. I climbed up, stepped over a tree branch and stopped... I felt confused; I was a little unsure so I circled the area and said to them both “I think I'm on the track?" I was amazed, we all were. Taonui and I thought we would be bush crashing till morning. this defiantly lightened the mood, which was great as it boosted our moral.

We continued. Using our cameras as a source of light we checked to see if we were still on the track or not, this worked until they ran out of charge, at which point we began losing the track more frequently. 

Our imaginations and sight kept taking the better of us. I would stop at moments and say "where are we going ?? This isn't the track there's a huge bolder right in front of us." Then I would grab my camera turn it on and with the little light it gave us, I would see that it was an open area, with the track sitting just beneath some fern branches. The basic equation became Giant boulder wall = fern trees and huge cliff = water puddles.

So frustrated we kept moving running into the same illusions over and over again. 

At one point we heard a kiwi calling. We all got excited but we had to keep moving. I thought I saw a possum but it wasn't, the kiwi jumped out right in front of me and surprised us, and we surprised it. It quickly ran back into the bush. I was stunned and exhilarated. 

More hours later we all started to slow down... Before this point we had started holding hands as it was easier to travel in the dim light and fewer bails occurred. We took baby paces and only slowly gained distance. 

Taonui soon decided to took lead which I was thankful for as my mind was starting to lose it. I said a remark to him which he thought was sarcasm, but I was truly delighted that he took lead. Sarah and I continued behind. Taonui made sure we were still on the track, although his imagination was now taking the better of him. At one point thinking there was a huge cliff in front of him, he crouched right down onto all four and slowly put one foot forward, just to find that instead of a ledge, a puddle greeted him.  

This continued for hours longer. 

Our knees started to become weak and our bodies cooled. My hamds were so cold that I could barely feel them. The final few hours were hard mentally and physically. However Taonui finally yelled. "So I think this is a doc sign over here... Why would they put it here?" I knew It was sarcasm but what I didn't know... was it that we had made it back?

The tarmac road had never been so lovely to see.

All of us were so thankful that we kept going and kept our heads clear of bad thoughts. We pulled ourselves out of what could have been very dangerous situation.

Sarah checked the time; it was 12:30am. We had been tracking through that bush for 10hours and more than 8 of those hours were spent in darkness. We missioned back to Invercargill stopping for a quick sleep on the side of the road. It was 5am in the morning when we finally made it back. 

Our bodies were shot and blisters covered the backs of our feet. 

We rested from Friday to Monday before getting back on our bikes to head out on the road.

P.s This was a really good learning experience, because we knew we weren't going to die. However those fiords are one of the most dangerous areas in New Zealand and a lot of people die and get lost for days in this same area, and seeing as we had no equipment and were in board shorts and cotton t-shirts walking at night in the dark with a temperature of 2 degrees Celsius :-) We have to say we are pretty proud of ourselves.