Finally - Milford!

The day for starting the Milford track finally arrived - with a huge dose of deja vu. Picking up tickets at the Te Anau DOC office, strolling along the lake front, getting onto the boat at Te Anau Downs - all things we did back in April.

But this time we actually got off the boat!


(Click on any picture for a higher resolution image)

Start of the track at Glade Wharf.

Day 1, following the Clinton River (5 km). Pretty easy going – flat, wide track, comfortable temperature.

Nature talk given by the ranger at Clinton Hut, pointing out key landmarks, flora and fauna

Day 2: Walking up the Clinton River valley to Mintaro Hut (16.5 km). Started off mostly flat with a climb at the head of the valley. In places the vegetation cleared to reveal steep slopes on both sides, waterfalls, and snow on the tops. It was really hard to judge just how high the peaks around us were – average around 1500 m above the valley floor.

Reflections in the Clinton River

Clinton River

Waterfalls. Who needs rain to make the Milford Track special?

MacKinnon pass in view to the left, just after Pompolona Lodge

Even though the weather forecast for the next day was good, we didn’t want to take our chances, so after arriving at Mintaro Hut we continued on to the top of the pass (extra 8 km, 560m climb).

Memorial cairn at MacKinnon Pass, with Mt Hart (1769 m) in the background

Memorial cairn and view across the tarn to Mt Wilmur (left, 1749m) and Mt Balloon (1847m)

Day 3: Mintaro Hut to Dumpling Hut (14 km). Tackling the pass again, this time with packs. Fewer clouds than the previous day, but we decided it had still been worth going up because of the different lighting in the evening.

View across the head of the Arthur River Valley from MacKinnon Pass

View back down the Clinton Valley from MacKinnon Pass

Descent from MacKinnon Pass into the Arthur River valley looking back up to the cirque at the head of the Clinton valley with Mt Hart on the far right.

The descent to Roaring Burn was hard going – long and rocky. 970 m descent from the pass to the hut that night.

Sutherland Falls, at 580 m, the highest waterfall in NZ – well worth a visit if you’re in the vicinity...

Topo map of the area around MacKinnon Pass. Each thin orange line is 20 m elevation (thick lines 100 m elevation); each blue square is 1 km to a side.

Day 4: Dumpling Hut to Milford Sound (18 km). Reflections in the Arthur River. At the start of the trip, the weather forecast for this day was rain, but as you can see, we didn’t have any.

MacKay Falls. Apparently MacKay and Sutherland flipped a coin to decide which of them this waterfall would be named after, and after MacKay won the toss they agreed that the next one would be named after Sutherland...

Arrival at Milford Sound by boat from Sandfly Point. We made it!

We spent the night in Milford Sound and took a cruise early the next morning, the idea being to beat the rush of day trippers from Te Anau. It worked – there were only 6 of us on the boat.


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We are now back in Te Anau to recover, wash our gear, restock food and get ready for Kepler starting on 30 Dec. At the moment the weather forecast is not fantastic, but there's still time for it to change...