My life in NZ in a nutshell – Part 3 (c): Hello, Milford Track! Day 1!

After carrying my backpack which weighed around 15kg for a total of 4 days and 53.5km, my carrying capability skyrocketed! First two days were sheer hell! I kept adjusting my hip belt and sternum lock to better distribute the backpack load.

The bus which took us from I-site to the wharf at Te Anau Downs (25km from Te Anau).
We were doing stretching exercise before our hike :p

Then, we took a 1¼ hour cruise across the lake to reach Glade Wharf, where the Milford track starts

The navigation system!

The captain, who caused growing tension among my hiking mates…. :p
I will show you why and how later

What we saw during our cruise!

Strong wind! Hold on to your hat tight! 🙂

The deliberate attempt to sabotage my solo shot!

JM eyed on the captain first. Then LY & LW also showed interest. Next, all of them flocked towards him….

Fierce rivalry! :p

Didymo control

Milford Track, starts here!

 

After an easy 1km walk but not so easy carrying, we reached the Glade House, the first overnight stop for guided walkers

First suspension bridge of the track

We were the first to stop for lunch! *shy*

After lunch workout

Dore Pass!

2 min before I could put down my backpack!!!

Clinton Hut!

Claiming our beds.

After some rest, we headed out for a short walk to the wetland area

where stunning scenery awaited!

There’s no showering facility in the hut. We thought we could have some dips at the swimming hole but we were deterred by the icy cold water and the omni-present sand flies!

Our DOC ranger for the day, who is 2m tall! He gave a guided walk

This is the aftereffect of……..

Tasting these pepper-like leaves!

Ok, vocab learning time! I’m holding a SPORK, spoon + fork! 🙂

We were the only group asking for photo-session with the ranger :p sua gu!

After the briefing session, I started to cultivate sleeping mood when Sue still went out for her glowworms hunt.

Living in the wilderness, not easy! 😀

Part 1: Rotorua| Part 2a: Goodbye Rotorua! | Part 2b: Hello again, Auckland! | Part 3: Hello, South Island! (a) Queenstown (b) Te Anau (c) Milford Track: preface, day 2, day 3, day 4 | Part 4: zucchini picking | Part 5: last bit of travelling (a) inmate days (b) (c) (d)| Concluding remarks

突然感触之爱情憧憬

猫说：“我喜欢你，但这感觉不是双向的，不用紧。我会伤心，这是正常的，但是这伤心会随着时间流逝的，我不会因为这样而废寝忘食的。” 猫的逻辑还认为，这只是喜欢，只是憧憬，跟爱，还有一段距离。对猫来说，爱的层次是不一样的。

猫的喜欢是虚无缥缈的。可以是文章所说的多看一眼的冲动、突然的思念、刹那的共鸣、短暂的互相扶持、同病相怜、莫名的依赖、又或者是一时的感动。

猫的爱却是执着的：选你所爱，爱你所选，选了，就要用心去爱。

K 的一番窝心的见解：

We, girls, become very beautiful when we are in love. I used to brush up myself, talk well, behave well, eat well, live well so that the person whom I like will look at me or just simply want to do all these because I feel good 🙂

还是单身的朋友，在日复一日的生活里，有憧憬，总比没有，来的强吧！:)

My life in NZ in a nutshell – Part 3 (c): Hello, Milford Track!

Preface

Before the photo-feed, it’s the information feed! It’s a shame that I am only reading information about the track in depth when I’m working on this post :p When I was in Melbourne, I was too busy with my master studies; when I was in NZ before the walk, I had only limited internet access.

People whom I met in NZ, when they knew that I would be tramping (a vocab I learnt only when I was down under)/had hiked along Milford Track during the summer season (November to April) most of them gave responses like, “OMG! How did you manage to book it?” Our scheduled trip was from 10 to 13 Dec 11 and we did the booking on 29 Jul 11, which was 4.5 months in advance! But I met an American couple who tried to book 6 months in advance of their trip but to no avail. Tip to secure your place during summer season: booking for the following season starts on 1 July!

I walked this! 🙂
Map abstracted from DOC  NZ’s website

I survived this! 🙂
Diagram, also grabbed from DOC NZ’s website

Alternatively, if you are survival enough, you can opt to do the walk in winter season (May to October) when booking is not required and the hut are not staffed and facilities are reduced (you have to bring your own cooking stove, using pit toilets instead of flushed ones, etc.)

Excerpts from Lonely Planet:-

In the off-season, experienced trekkers can walk the track in either direction without bookings (hut tickets must be purchased). At this time there’s limited trail transport, the huts aren’t staffed, some of the bridges are removed and, in the height of winter, snow and avalanches make it unwise. It’s vitally important you visit DOC to check avalanche risk, as the geography of the valley makes it impossible to judge for yourself.

Oh, I forgot to mention! The information above and previous post about advance booking, staying in the huts, carrying your own backpacks and preparing your own meals for the 4-day hike etc is for independent trekkers, like my group. Another alternative if you fail to secure a place via the DOC booking system is to take the guided walk. Let me do the comparison for you 🙂

	Independent walk	Guided walk
Cost (NZD)* to travel during low season:1 – 30 Nov 2013 and 1 – 11 Apr 2014	$ 306.50*price includes 3 nights track accommodation at huts (bunk beds) and transport to and from the track ** refer this page for breakdown and more info	$ 1930*price includes 3 nights track accommodation & one night at Milford Sound (multishare rooms with bunk beds), transport to and from the track, meals, snacks, backpack, rain jacket, cruise trip at Milford Sound. ** refer this page for the breakdown and more info
Duration	4D3N	5D4N
Track guide	No	Yes
Breakdown of walking distance (km)	5-16.5-14-18	1.6-16-15-21
Showering facilities at huts/lodges	No	Yes. Hot showers some more!
Clothes washing facilities at huts/lodges	No	Lodges have hand washing facilities with soap powder and drying rooms
Meals	Bring and prepare on your own, own cooking utensils	Prepared by tour provider. 3-course dinners!

Some friends asked, “Why do you choose the hard way to see/reach Milford Sound?” Well, the scenery along the walk was so stunning that I had to make many stops just to exclaim, “AH-MAH-ZING!” Some scenery was so breathtaking that I just stood there in awed silence. But it could be due to the fact that I have very low awestruck threshold. :p So judge it for yourself: if you think the scenery shown in photos of subsequent post is too good to be missed, you know what to do!

On wheels or on foot, your choice!
Guess where I abstracted this map from? :p *hint hint*

Part 1: Rotorua| Part 2a: Goodbye Rotorua! | Part 2b: Hello again, Auckland! | Part 3: Hello, South Island! (a) Queenstown (b) Te Anau (c) Milford Track: day 1, day 2, day 3, day 4 | Part 4: zucchini picking | Part 5: last bit of travelling (a) inmate days (b) (c) (d)| Concluding remarks

My life in NZ in a nutshell – Part 3 (b): Hello, Te Anau!

I managed to get myself the $1 bus ticket to travel from Queenstown to Te Anau!  🙂

En route to Te Anau, it was this scenic!

I saw the Maori name of Milford Sound, I related it to Hokkien (piopio) and Malay (tahi), and I laughed at my own thought! :p

Lupins are indeed beautiful flowers!

During my childhood, I used to like a Taiwanese song entitled “鲁冰花”. I just knew recently that lupin’s Chinese translation is actually鲁冰!

Major events that took place at Te Anau:-

1) Explored the town! 

Our false bravado: posing in Lake Te Anau

Us: Can we swim in the lake?

Receptionist at our backpackers: Oh, you sure can! But not many people will do that now because the temperature of the water is only around 11° Celsius!

Then, we took turns to pose with the swing. The best poser was….

… her!

CC was looking funny in the background :p

2) Getting worried prepared for Milford Track 

A visit to the visitor centre made us realized we were under-prepared for our Milford walk… 😦

We were especially under-prepared for the potential flood…

Our hike was from 10-13 December. Rain was expected!

Our photoshop plan…. did not materialized :p

To better equipped myself, I bought the yellow liner from the visitor centre, cooking utensils such as spork (a new vocab for me: spoon+fork)  and mess tin, additional quick dry apparels and electrolyte powder from nearby outdoor gears shop.

At night, packing provided an even grimmer outlook for the walk :~(
How to survive the walk carrying 15kg worth of backpack? I need a porter…. *sob*

3) Hiked to Dock Bay 

I actually invited the gang to hike to Brod Bay to have some glimpses of Kepler’s Track. But after getting to know our bleak outlook for our Milford track, we reckon we should conserve energy and get all prepared for it

Tracing our footsteps again: A= our backpackers.

Me: Why was everyone in this pose???
Them: that’s the walking sign!

En route, we passed by a Wildlife Park. Before I read this information, I thought all blue birds = pukeko! After reading I still couldn’t differentiate. LW provided conclusion: pukeko is with defined neck; takahe is without!
Oh!….. That’s illuminating! 🙂

And then, there’s a water gate

At Dock Bay finally! My favorite group photo with the gang! This time, I remember to edit the photo before publishing, JM! 😉 :p

This is a solution to LW’s concern of injuring herself if she did jumping shots with us 🙂

4) Being introduced to the omni-present Te namunamu!

… i.e. sandflies!

“Although sandflies are present throughout New Zealand, Fiordland has the unfortunate distinction of being renowned for them”

The unbearable thing about them is their bites leave mega itchy bumps (10000 times more itchy than mosquito bites!!!!) and the bumps wouldn’t fade until 3-6 months later!

I thought sandflies at Te Anau were horrifying and irritating enough, I obviously did not know what awaited us along Milford Track! *facepalm*

Part 1: Rotorua| Part 2a: Goodbye Rotorua! | Part 2b: Hello again, Auckland! | Part 3: Hello, South Island! (a) Queenstown (c) Milford Sound | Part 4: zucchini picking | Part 5: last bit of travelling (a) inmate days (b) (c) (d)| Concluding remarks

 

Office fun and love 4

Positive reinforcement is better, don’t you think? 😉

Colleague: xx is very unprofessional by texting “f*ck you”…

Me: Be positive! Maybe he meant “duck you”, stupid auto-correct! :p

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 5 | Part 6

Meow’s guide to life – Part 2

Sometimes, speed isn’t essence…

“Because one believes in oneself, one doesn’t try to convince others. Because one is content with oneself, one doesn’t need others’ approval. Because one accepts oneself, the whole world accepts him or her.”
― Laozi

Part 1 | Part 3