When you imagine the best part of New Zealand, the beautiful and majestic snow covered mountains that are reflected in clear lakes and surrounded by thick forests, you probably imagine Fiordland in the southwest of the South Island. This is the place where the most famous treks are. The kiwis call them great walks, but they also call trekking "tramping", which is a word that is known only in New Zealand.
The Milford trek, often regarded as the most beautiful trek in the world, is so popular that it has to be booked half a year in advance. There are only 40 people allowed on each section of the walk every day, and only 40 beds in the huts that must be booked in order to be given access to the trail. We booked it in Rio de Janeiro when the last thing on our mind was New Zealand. When we finally got to Te-Anau, where the Milford trek begins, the weather was not what we got used to on this trip. The skies were cloudy and the Te-Anau lake was gray and dull.
The weather forecast for the next days was similar and even worse. It seemed that going to the trek with this weather will be a total waste of time and money, not to mention the fact that we will carry a big camera for nothing. We had to do something quick, so we walked on the lake side and had a talk with Ranginui, the Maori sky father, where we pleaded for good weather, promised to make our best efforts to get the best pictures and made threats that Chile will be remembered as the most beautiful country of the trip, not forgetting to mention the already good pictures Pachamama (the South American "Mother Earth") has given us there. Emile Ajar wrote in one of his books that Jews talk and fight with god like a man and wife. Well, we brought this Jewish spirit to the gods of Aotearoa - "The land of long white cloud" as the Maori people call New Zealand.
We also had a more earthly preparation to the trek. We went to the DOC (Department of Conservation) office to get our tickets and get the most information about the trek in advance. Much to our surprise, they had the information sheets and the movie in 4 languages – English, German, Japanese and Hebrew. Yes. One of the three foreign languages which the administration of the most famous trek in New Zealand chose to translate its explanations to was the native tongue of a small 7 million people nation that lives in a small country far away. Definitely a reason to be proud for the Israeli trekkers of the Southern Hemisphere.
Our prayer (or threat) was answered. On the next morning the skies were blue with only light clouds. We got at 9am to the bus that drove on the beautiful way on the shore of Te-Anau lake to the point where we took the catamaran across the lake, which is the second largest in New Zealand, to the starting point of the trek. This way is a great introduction to the trek, since the views from the boat were simply amazing. The whole lake is surrounded by high mountains, some of them are snow-covered, and Ranginui really made an effort for us this day, arranging the clouds and the skies so the scenery will be just as you'd imagine a lake surrounded by mountains in New Zealand.
When we landed on the shore, we met our new hosts – the sand flies. As one of the rangers we met told us – they are the real guardians of the trek – If you only spend a little time standing or looking at the river, not to mention trying to get off the trail and get to riverbank, the sand flies will bite you as hard as they can. How hard is it? You will not believe it from the looks of them, but a bite from a sand fly can really itch for few days, making you either scratch the place, getting temporal relief in the short run (30 seconds), but making it worse in the longer run (1 minute and more), or avoid touching the itch, while enduring eternal (2 days) agony.
We, however, were prepared, or so we believed, and bought in advance a "natural" fly repellent. This was definitely the last time we buy a natural repellent. It was totally worthless. It actually seemed the flies liked the smell. Give us chemicals! Give us DEET! Just take the damn flies away from us.
The first day of the Milford is a very short one. Only a 5 km hike to the first hut. Once this hut was located further along the trail, but it was drifted when the river was flooded several years ago. The relatively short day is actually a good thing since it let you get used to the weight of the pack, which includes all the food for 4 days as well as sleeping bags and very warm clothes.
Since the day is so short, the park ranger that is responsible for the first hut doubles as a tour guide, and arranges a "nature walk" through the forest in the afternoon. The ranger was named after the famous NZ hero Peter Jackson (The director of The Lord of the Ring trilogy, which is the most popular man in NZ), and he was also a bit of an actor himself. A comedian, to be precise. The tour he arranged was very funny and not less informative. He introduced us to the Moa, a huge, 3 meter high, flightless bird that was extinct due to massive hunting only 200 years ago. The Moa is no longer present but there is hardly a single plant in the forest that has not developed some sort of defense mechanism against the plant devouring giant. These include a very bad smell or taste, as well as some more creative methods.
We cooked our dinner in the well equipped kitchen in the hut, and while eating had a "hut talk" with our private ranger. The only mood killer was the fact that the weather forecast for the next day was "stormy".
The weather guy clearly was not aware of our relationship with Ranginui. On the next morning, the forecast changed to "fine" and we started the day in the right foot. Before we left the hut, Peter the ranger gave us a million dollar tip. "If you arrive early to the next hut, leave your backpacks there and climb to the mountain pass today, because the weather tomorrow might be very different".
The second day is a 16 km hike in a valley that becomes narrower and narrower as you go. The mountains towering from both sides and you can see so many waterfalls everywhere. Almost every drop of rain becomes a waterfall, since the soil on the mountains is very thin and cannot hold the water. The trees struggle hard to cling to the mountain side, but with so little soil to hold on to, a strong rain can cause a "tree avalanche".
We arrived to the hut before 4 o'clock, and didn't let the crawling pain in the shoulder and the tired legs keep us from climbing to the pass. The skies were cloudless, and there were less than 3 hours left to sunset, so we climbed as quickly as we could the 4 km steep climb to the mountain pass.
To make a long story short, the pass was the most beautiful place we saw in this trip.
When people regard the Milford as the most beautiful trek in the world, they think about the Mackinnon pass in a sunny, blue skied afternoon. The difference between "nice", "beautiful" and "amazing" on the pass are very subtle. Some clouds that cover the sun can turn "beautiful" into just "nice", while a sudden calm in the wind, that turns the small lakes into a perfect mirror, can upgrade "beautiful" to "truly amazing". We got the "truly amazing" package. This was the very reason why we crossed half of the world to get to New Zealand.
There are few seasonal lakes on the mountain pass, each reflects a group of snow covered mountains. Taking a good picture is just a matter of composing these elements together in an eye pleasing way. We walked between them, taking heaps of pictures of every possible composition that looked good.
The sand flies don't go that high, but there is another guardian high in the mountains – the Kea. This cheeky and highly intelligent parrot, which is called after the sound it makes, can only be found on the high areas of southern NZ. Researchers showed that a pair of Keas can cooperate in complicated tasks in order to obtain food, which places them very high in intelligence among the animals. Every person, at some stage of his life, has met this sort – the highly intelligent and mischievous kid which becomes an annoyance to all of his surroundings. This is the human form of a Kea. At the beginning, "our" Kea followed us all over the pass, fixing his gaze at our shoes, as if estimating how hard will it be to disintegrate them. There is a warning sign in the high mountain huts that worn the hikers not leave their shoes or backpacks outside since it have become a favorite game for the Keas to ruin them completely with their strong beak. However, we proved to be a worthy opponent to the mountain ruler. Instead of him chasing us, Oren chased the Kea, trying to make him fly, in order to get a good picture of the Kea's magnificent red feathers under his green wings, which are only visible when the Kea spreads his wings. Apparently, Oren annoyed the bird so much, that it decided to fly to another place, leaving Oren with only few blurred photos of the Kea flying. This was probably one of the only documented events of a person irritating a Kea and not the other way around.
We stayed up until the sun disappeared. We got back to hut at almost darkness and discovered that we managed to worry a little the hut ranger. We were very exhausted after walking more than 25 km that day. We looked at the weather forecast for the next day, before going to sleep, which was, as always, "rainy". By that time, it had lost most of the credibility that weather forecasts usually has.
The third day started with the same climb of the day before, this time with all of our gear, which immediately brought up a discussion whether it's better to know what a hard climb laid ahead, or is it true that "ignorance is bliss". Either way, it seems that the climb was easier this time (perhaps because of the god night sleep), albeit much less rewarding. The forecast was surprisingly right ("even a broken watch is right twice a day") and weather finally lived up to its reputation and was cloudy with little rain and cold wind. The view on the top was downgraded to not more than "nice". Interestingly, the people who didn't go up the day before were sure it is amazing and totally worth the long climb, and cries of enjoyment could be heard from all around. We, the small group that climbed the day before, exchanged knowing glances, but said nothing so not to ruin it for the others.
The climb turned to be the easier part of the day. The way down from the pass is a 1000 meters steep decent, that has became much harder because part of the trail was closed because of an avalanche danger. The alternative trail reminded us a game of ropes and ladders. The regular winding trail down was replaced by a path going straight down connecting the start and finish. By the end of this part, our knees have aged by at least 10 years, and we were not even half way down. And if that was not enough, the rain was getting stronger.
The way down became more beautiful as we advanced, passing through a pack of very impressive waterfalls. The forest became thicker as we went down. Finally we arrived at the end of the long decent, and made a break in the hut of the guided tours coming to the Milford. The annoying sand flies ruled the territory, and we all had to sneak fast in the resting room so the flies will not follow us in. Inside there were some coffee and biscuits, which were a nice surprise.
From there, we took a side trip to the Sutherland waterfall. This waterfall is the highest in the southern hemisphere. Since it started to be rainy the waterfall was full with water and we couldn't actually reach the base. The whole area around it was totally wet, and even though we wore our best rain clothes, we got wet from the inside, in a preview for what was about to happen on the next day.
When we finally got to the cabin, we felt we have well earned this night's rest. We got friendly with three Belgium girls. They spent the evening playing a strange game with small cards and dices, which looked like the perfect travel game, because even though it could be carried in a matchbox, it gave them hours of enjoinment. Two of them were going to Australia next, and we were happy to give them all the tips we could.
The rain came in full power on the next day. There are over 9 meters of rain a year in the last section of the Milford trek, and on this day, we got about 70mm of them. Before going to the trail, the ranger told us to wear "whatever you think is your best water proof clothes", and he was right. All of the clothes that we thought to be water proof turned to be only proof to normal amount of water. However, none of the rain covers we had wasn't designed to protect you if you went into a cold shower and stayed there for a full day, which was practically what we did. This description might sound awful, but actually it was a beautiful experience. The walls of the valley poured with water. Like in the famous scene from the book of Exodus where Moses splits the red sea and the Israelis cross in the middle, we also felt we were walking on more or less solid ground between two walls of water. Later on we started feeling like the Egyptians in the story, when the water levels rose and we started walking in the water trying to cross the uprising streams at the bottom of the newly formed waterfalls. The kiwis say that you should see the Milford twice – once in the sun and once in the rain. We got the double package for only one ticket.
We rushed through this day, almost without stopping for rest, food or photograph, to reach the end of the trail, which is known as "Sandfly Point". Only when we got there, we understood how absurd it is to hurry to a place bearing such a name. This was the capital of the sand flies kingdom, and in order to get to the dry close area where all the other hikers gathered, trying in vain to find a dry spot in all of their gear, we had to cross a thick and partly solid cloud of the little bastards.
There are two ferries from Sandfly Point back to ferry dock, where the bus back to Te-Anau leaves. We booked the later one, thinking of a relaxed last day, but since all of the 40 people on the trail pretty much ran through the entire trail, we all got before the earlier ferry. Lucky for us, we could have all squeezed into the small boat feeling like refugees from a disaster zone.
When we got to the ferry dock, we discovered that we don't have the same luck with the bus back. The earlier bus was full and we had to wait for the later bus at 5pm. The ferry dock, which is the departure point of the (expansive) cruise boats going out to see the Milford Sound, looks like a small airport terminal, with nice wooden sits and wall to wall carpets. You can imagine that a group of dirty, mud covered and wet hikers, sitting on the floor with their gear spread around them to dry, did not exactly fit the general picture. Nevertheless, we didn't really have a choice, and we had to get a little dry and warm, so we exploited the extraordinary politeness of the kiwi employees of the place that where clearly unhappy with us being there, but would never say a thing.
Israelis are less polite, however. While we were sitting with our Belgium friends and playing their game which turned out to be really addictive, two Israeli women sat next to us and started talking about us, completely ignorant of the fact we are both understand Hebrew. "Look at them, how comfortable they feel here. Like at home, taking their shoes off" said the one and the other replied "Yes. They are serious hikers! Look at all this gear". "From where do you think they are?" said the first. "Probably each of them is coming from a different country. They meet here and keep traveling together to save money on food and fuel" replied the second. We held ourselves hard to not laugh while the two ladies kept on cheat-chatting about us, and translated everything to English as soon as they left. All of us had a good laugh about the fact that we are considered to be a "serious hikers" by some.
We got back to Te-Anau on the evening and met again with our Belgium friends for dinner at a relatively fancy restaurant. After 3 nights of the most basic food, we felt like something good, and we had a great lamb dishes. We did not forget to make a small prayer that this lamb will go to heaven for having given us so much pleasure. We also introduced them with the tost we often use on this trip: "To More!". They agreed to start spreading this toast across Europe and the north Atlantic, starting in Belgium.
We met them again on the next morning for a pancake and hot chocolate breakfast. Later, we said our goodbyes and started hitching towards Queenstown.
Tip 1:If the weather on the second day of the trek is good, save a little more strength for climbing up to the pass, which is the first part of the next day. It is an eight km return trip, but it will be the best part of your trek! You can never know what the weather will be like on the next day.
Tip 2: You don't have to buy the expansive half prepared meals they sell all around Te-Anao. Take some rice and gravy and you can cook everything in the huts.
Tip 3: When they say it can be rainy in the Milford, they really mean it. Make sure you have some extra dry clothes, and that your sleeping bag is completely sealed. However, you don't have to buy these expansive "water proof" plastic bags that are sold in the DOC office in Te-Anao. You can just use rubbish bags that they sell in the supermarket.
Tip 4: Don't be tempted for all the "natural" insect repellants and such. They just don't work. Take the best repellent you can find, because the sand flies can be realy a pain in your butt.
The Milford trek, often regarded as the most beautiful trek in the world, is so popular that it has to be booked half a year in advance. There are only 40 people allowed on each section of the walk every day, and only 40 beds in the huts that must be booked in order to be given access to the trail. We booked it in Rio de Janeiro when the last thing on our mind was New Zealand. When we finally got to Te-Anau, where the Milford trek begins, the weather was not what we got used to on this trip. The skies were cloudy and the Te-Anau lake was gray and dull.
The weather forecast for the next days was similar and even worse. It seemed that going to the trek with this weather will be a total waste of time and money, not to mention the fact that we will carry a big camera for nothing. We had to do something quick, so we walked on the lake side and had a talk with Ranginui, the Maori sky father, where we pleaded for good weather, promised to make our best efforts to get the best pictures and made threats that Chile will be remembered as the most beautiful country of the trip, not forgetting to mention the already good pictures Pachamama (the South American "Mother Earth") has given us there. Emile Ajar wrote in one of his books that Jews talk and fight with god like a man and wife. Well, we brought this Jewish spirit to the gods of Aotearoa - "The land of long white cloud" as the Maori people call New Zealand.
We also had a more earthly preparation to the trek. We went to the DOC (Department of Conservation) office to get our tickets and get the most information about the trek in advance. Much to our surprise, they had the information sheets and the movie in 4 languages – English, German, Japanese and Hebrew. Yes. One of the three foreign languages which the administration of the most famous trek in New Zealand chose to translate its explanations to was the native tongue of a small 7 million people nation that lives in a small country far away. Definitely a reason to be proud for the Israeli trekkers of the Southern Hemisphere.
Our prayer (or threat) was answered. On the next morning the skies were blue with only light clouds. We got at 9am to the bus that drove on the beautiful way on the shore of Te-Anau lake to the point where we took the catamaran across the lake, which is the second largest in New Zealand, to the starting point of the trek. This way is a great introduction to the trek, since the views from the boat were simply amazing. The whole lake is surrounded by high mountains, some of them are snow-covered, and Ranginui really made an effort for us this day, arranging the clouds and the skies so the scenery will be just as you'd imagine a lake surrounded by mountains in New Zealand.
When we landed on the shore, we met our new hosts – the sand flies. As one of the rangers we met told us – they are the real guardians of the trek – If you only spend a little time standing or looking at the river, not to mention trying to get off the trail and get to riverbank, the sand flies will bite you as hard as they can. How hard is it? You will not believe it from the looks of them, but a bite from a sand fly can really itch for few days, making you either scratch the place, getting temporal relief in the short run (30 seconds), but making it worse in the longer run (1 minute and more), or avoid touching the itch, while enduring eternal (2 days) agony.
We, however, were prepared, or so we believed, and bought in advance a "natural" fly repellent. This was definitely the last time we buy a natural repellent. It was totally worthless. It actually seemed the flies liked the smell. Give us chemicals! Give us DEET! Just take the damn flies away from us.
The first day of the Milford is a very short one. Only a 5 km hike to the first hut. Once this hut was located further along the trail, but it was drifted when the river was flooded several years ago. The relatively short day is actually a good thing since it let you get used to the weight of the pack, which includes all the food for 4 days as well as sleeping bags and very warm clothes.
Since the day is so short, the park ranger that is responsible for the first hut doubles as a tour guide, and arranges a "nature walk" through the forest in the afternoon. The ranger was named after the famous NZ hero Peter Jackson (The director of The Lord of the Ring trilogy, which is the most popular man in NZ), and he was also a bit of an actor himself. A comedian, to be precise. The tour he arranged was very funny and not less informative. He introduced us to the Moa, a huge, 3 meter high, flightless bird that was extinct due to massive hunting only 200 years ago. The Moa is no longer present but there is hardly a single plant in the forest that has not developed some sort of defense mechanism against the plant devouring giant. These include a very bad smell or taste, as well as some more creative methods.
We cooked our dinner in the well equipped kitchen in the hut, and while eating had a "hut talk" with our private ranger. The only mood killer was the fact that the weather forecast for the next day was "stormy".
The weather guy clearly was not aware of our relationship with Ranginui. On the next morning, the forecast changed to "fine" and we started the day in the right foot. Before we left the hut, Peter the ranger gave us a million dollar tip. "If you arrive early to the next hut, leave your backpacks there and climb to the mountain pass today, because the weather tomorrow might be very different".
The second day is a 16 km hike in a valley that becomes narrower and narrower as you go. The mountains towering from both sides and you can see so many waterfalls everywhere. Almost every drop of rain becomes a waterfall, since the soil on the mountains is very thin and cannot hold the water. The trees struggle hard to cling to the mountain side, but with so little soil to hold on to, a strong rain can cause a "tree avalanche".
We arrived to the hut before 4 o'clock, and didn't let the crawling pain in the shoulder and the tired legs keep us from climbing to the pass. The skies were cloudless, and there were less than 3 hours left to sunset, so we climbed as quickly as we could the 4 km steep climb to the mountain pass.
To make a long story short, the pass was the most beautiful place we saw in this trip.
When people regard the Milford as the most beautiful trek in the world, they think about the Mackinnon pass in a sunny, blue skied afternoon. The difference between "nice", "beautiful" and "amazing" on the pass are very subtle. Some clouds that cover the sun can turn "beautiful" into just "nice", while a sudden calm in the wind, that turns the small lakes into a perfect mirror, can upgrade "beautiful" to "truly amazing". We got the "truly amazing" package. This was the very reason why we crossed half of the world to get to New Zealand.
There are few seasonal lakes on the mountain pass, each reflects a group of snow covered mountains. Taking a good picture is just a matter of composing these elements together in an eye pleasing way. We walked between them, taking heaps of pictures of every possible composition that looked good.
The sand flies don't go that high, but there is another guardian high in the mountains – the Kea. This cheeky and highly intelligent parrot, which is called after the sound it makes, can only be found on the high areas of southern NZ. Researchers showed that a pair of Keas can cooperate in complicated tasks in order to obtain food, which places them very high in intelligence among the animals. Every person, at some stage of his life, has met this sort – the highly intelligent and mischievous kid which becomes an annoyance to all of his surroundings. This is the human form of a Kea. At the beginning, "our" Kea followed us all over the pass, fixing his gaze at our shoes, as if estimating how hard will it be to disintegrate them. There is a warning sign in the high mountain huts that worn the hikers not leave their shoes or backpacks outside since it have become a favorite game for the Keas to ruin them completely with their strong beak. However, we proved to be a worthy opponent to the mountain ruler. Instead of him chasing us, Oren chased the Kea, trying to make him fly, in order to get a good picture of the Kea's magnificent red feathers under his green wings, which are only visible when the Kea spreads his wings. Apparently, Oren annoyed the bird so much, that it decided to fly to another place, leaving Oren with only few blurred photos of the Kea flying. This was probably one of the only documented events of a person irritating a Kea and not the other way around.
We stayed up until the sun disappeared. We got back to hut at almost darkness and discovered that we managed to worry a little the hut ranger. We were very exhausted after walking more than 25 km that day. We looked at the weather forecast for the next day, before going to sleep, which was, as always, "rainy". By that time, it had lost most of the credibility that weather forecasts usually has.
The third day started with the same climb of the day before, this time with all of our gear, which immediately brought up a discussion whether it's better to know what a hard climb laid ahead, or is it true that "ignorance is bliss". Either way, it seems that the climb was easier this time (perhaps because of the god night sleep), albeit much less rewarding. The forecast was surprisingly right ("even a broken watch is right twice a day") and weather finally lived up to its reputation and was cloudy with little rain and cold wind. The view on the top was downgraded to not more than "nice". Interestingly, the people who didn't go up the day before were sure it is amazing and totally worth the long climb, and cries of enjoyment could be heard from all around. We, the small group that climbed the day before, exchanged knowing glances, but said nothing so not to ruin it for the others.
The climb turned to be the easier part of the day. The way down from the pass is a 1000 meters steep decent, that has became much harder because part of the trail was closed because of an avalanche danger. The alternative trail reminded us a game of ropes and ladders. The regular winding trail down was replaced by a path going straight down connecting the start and finish. By the end of this part, our knees have aged by at least 10 years, and we were not even half way down. And if that was not enough, the rain was getting stronger.
The way down became more beautiful as we advanced, passing through a pack of very impressive waterfalls. The forest became thicker as we went down. Finally we arrived at the end of the long decent, and made a break in the hut of the guided tours coming to the Milford. The annoying sand flies ruled the territory, and we all had to sneak fast in the resting room so the flies will not follow us in. Inside there were some coffee and biscuits, which were a nice surprise.
From there, we took a side trip to the Sutherland waterfall. This waterfall is the highest in the southern hemisphere. Since it started to be rainy the waterfall was full with water and we couldn't actually reach the base. The whole area around it was totally wet, and even though we wore our best rain clothes, we got wet from the inside, in a preview for what was about to happen on the next day.
When we finally got to the cabin, we felt we have well earned this night's rest. We got friendly with three Belgium girls. They spent the evening playing a strange game with small cards and dices, which looked like the perfect travel game, because even though it could be carried in a matchbox, it gave them hours of enjoinment. Two of them were going to Australia next, and we were happy to give them all the tips we could.
The rain came in full power on the next day. There are over 9 meters of rain a year in the last section of the Milford trek, and on this day, we got about 70mm of them. Before going to the trail, the ranger told us to wear "whatever you think is your best water proof clothes", and he was right. All of the clothes that we thought to be water proof turned to be only proof to normal amount of water. However, none of the rain covers we had wasn't designed to protect you if you went into a cold shower and stayed there for a full day, which was practically what we did. This description might sound awful, but actually it was a beautiful experience. The walls of the valley poured with water. Like in the famous scene from the book of Exodus where Moses splits the red sea and the Israelis cross in the middle, we also felt we were walking on more or less solid ground between two walls of water. Later on we started feeling like the Egyptians in the story, when the water levels rose and we started walking in the water trying to cross the uprising streams at the bottom of the newly formed waterfalls. The kiwis say that you should see the Milford twice – once in the sun and once in the rain. We got the double package for only one ticket.
We rushed through this day, almost without stopping for rest, food or photograph, to reach the end of the trail, which is known as "Sandfly Point". Only when we got there, we understood how absurd it is to hurry to a place bearing such a name. This was the capital of the sand flies kingdom, and in order to get to the dry close area where all the other hikers gathered, trying in vain to find a dry spot in all of their gear, we had to cross a thick and partly solid cloud of the little bastards.
There are two ferries from Sandfly Point back to ferry dock, where the bus back to Te-Anau leaves. We booked the later one, thinking of a relaxed last day, but since all of the 40 people on the trail pretty much ran through the entire trail, we all got before the earlier ferry. Lucky for us, we could have all squeezed into the small boat feeling like refugees from a disaster zone.
When we got to the ferry dock, we discovered that we don't have the same luck with the bus back. The earlier bus was full and we had to wait for the later bus at 5pm. The ferry dock, which is the departure point of the (expansive) cruise boats going out to see the Milford Sound, looks like a small airport terminal, with nice wooden sits and wall to wall carpets. You can imagine that a group of dirty, mud covered and wet hikers, sitting on the floor with their gear spread around them to dry, did not exactly fit the general picture. Nevertheless, we didn't really have a choice, and we had to get a little dry and warm, so we exploited the extraordinary politeness of the kiwi employees of the place that where clearly unhappy with us being there, but would never say a thing.
Israelis are less polite, however. While we were sitting with our Belgium friends and playing their game which turned out to be really addictive, two Israeli women sat next to us and started talking about us, completely ignorant of the fact we are both understand Hebrew. "Look at them, how comfortable they feel here. Like at home, taking their shoes off" said the one and the other replied "Yes. They are serious hikers! Look at all this gear". "From where do you think they are?" said the first. "Probably each of them is coming from a different country. They meet here and keep traveling together to save money on food and fuel" replied the second. We held ourselves hard to not laugh while the two ladies kept on cheat-chatting about us, and translated everything to English as soon as they left. All of us had a good laugh about the fact that we are considered to be a "serious hikers" by some.
We got back to Te-Anau on the evening and met again with our Belgium friends for dinner at a relatively fancy restaurant. After 3 nights of the most basic food, we felt like something good, and we had a great lamb dishes. We did not forget to make a small prayer that this lamb will go to heaven for having given us so much pleasure. We also introduced them with the tost we often use on this trip: "To More!". They agreed to start spreading this toast across Europe and the north Atlantic, starting in Belgium.
We met them again on the next morning for a pancake and hot chocolate breakfast. Later, we said our goodbyes and started hitching towards Queenstown.
Tip 1:If the weather on the second day of the trek is good, save a little more strength for climbing up to the pass, which is the first part of the next day. It is an eight km return trip, but it will be the best part of your trek! You can never know what the weather will be like on the next day.
Tip 2: You don't have to buy the expansive half prepared meals they sell all around Te-Anao. Take some rice and gravy and you can cook everything in the huts.
Tip 3: When they say it can be rainy in the Milford, they really mean it. Make sure you have some extra dry clothes, and that your sleeping bag is completely sealed. However, you don't have to buy these expansive "water proof" plastic bags that are sold in the DOC office in Te-Anao. You can just use rubbish bags that they sell in the supermarket.
Tip 4: Don't be tempted for all the "natural" insect repellants and such. They just don't work. Take the best repellent you can find, because the sand flies can be realy a pain in your butt.
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