New Zealand

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THERE ARE TWO THINGS YOU NEED to know about the Milford Track, which has been described as the finest walk in the world.

This ancient fjordland rainforest has 30ft of rain a year and there’s a good chance some of it will land on you.

And most of the sandflies in the southern hemisphere seem to congregate here between October and April when the walks take place.

However with decent waterproofs and plenty of insect repellent this can be one of the highlights of a trip to New Zealand. And you don’t need to be a serious walker, or ‘tramper’ as the Kiwis call them, to do it.

Our pre-walk briefing took place at the offices of the Ultimate Hikes company in Queenstown. Backpacks and raincoats were loaned to those who hadn’t brought their own.

There was a chance to buy those items you’d overlooked - such as ear plugs, which turned out to be best sellers.

And that’s the other thing you need to know. Most accommodation is in shared four or six bedded bunk rooms. Being past that point where I’m willing to share with snoring strangers I’d taken the precaution of booking private rooms with en suite six months before. There are only half a dozen of these at each lodge and even then my preferred dates had not been available.

Pristine rainforest

To preserve this World Heritage Site as pristine rainforest, numbers are strictly limited.

Ultimate Hikes own the lodges, which each sleep up to 50 people, so the only alternative if you want to walk the Track is to apply for an independent walking licence in which case you carry your own food, sleeping in dormitory accommodation in clean but basic YHA style lodges along the route.

Although billed as a five-day walk, it’s actually three days, 33 miles in total, with two days getting there and back.

We reached our first lodge mid-afternoon after a coach ride from Queenstown and a boat across Lake Te Anau. Glade House was just a mile from the jetty and the sandflies were there waiting to greet us.

The lodges themselves are not luxurious but have everything you need with plenty of hot water, drying rooms for wet gear and the food is excellent.

After dinner on the first evening, we were asked to introduce ourselves to our fellow travellers. There was a group of 25 from Japan, a couple of Germans and roughly equal numbers of Brits, Aussies and Americans. Ages ranged from early twenties to a wiry old American professor of psychology, who was 72.

We made the mistake of telling the group that one of the two couples we were with was on their honeymoon. They weren’t but it seemed amusing after a couple of bottles of wine.

Most of the group recognised this immediately as quirky British humour but the Japanese gave them knowing looks and most came up to offer congratulations during the trip.

Our first day was an easy 10 mile stroll, in glorious sunshine, along an old packhorse trail, across wetlands and beech forest, through the Valley of the Perpendicular with its 4000ft rock walls and out onto the prairie where we had our first sight of the Mackinnon Pass.

This was the pass that Quintin Mackinnon had crossed in 1888 to open up the Milford Track and tomorrow we would be following in his footsteps. Tonight we were at Pompolona Lodge.

Evenings fell into a routine. Shower and then dinner followed by a slide show of the next day’s walk with our three guides Chris, Libby and Jolie pointing out special features and describing the wildlife we might see. The large parrot-like kea birds which tried to steal our sandwiches, paradise ducks, tomtits and bush robins and the nocturnal kiwi bird which we heard only at night.

The following day was a 7am start and already the weather was changing and clouds were gathering around the pass.

There is no sense of walking in a group. One guide sets off early and walkers then leave whenever they are ready. Another guide brings up the rear. Chris had told us this was the toughest day, starting with a five-mile climb uphill and 11 zig-zag bends to the peak followed by four miles downhill to Quintin Lodge. She hadn’t told us that an avalanche had taken out part of the track. This meant an almost vertical climb with a knotted rope for assistance to bypass one zig-zag.

The rain was holding off but mist was swirling around the peak when we got to the top and it was turning cold.

We were grateful we’d listened to advice and worn the thermal vests we bought in Queenstown. Also, for the guide from our next lodge who met us at the peak with flasks of steaming drinks.

Waterfalls and rock cliffs

Downhill sounded great but it was the most difficult walking of the trip. A rocky trail entwined with roots leading down through forest and across glacial fed streams, skirting waterfalls and rock cliffs. But the scenery was stunning and we had a fabulous view of the Sutherland Falls with its giant frothy plumes tumbling noisily, at 1904 ft the fifth highest waterfall in the world.

At the bottom of the pass, with knees and calves burning, we gratefully crossed the Roaring Burn swingbridge and into Quintin Lodge where a beer never tasted better.

The next day our luck ran out and we awoke to the sound of heavy rain. Stoking up with a hot breakfast, we put on our wet weather gear and trudged off along the final 13 mile stretch to the meeting point at the aptly named Sandfly Point and the boat that would take us across picturesque Milford Sound and back to civilisation.

Huge swarms of insects had gathered there in the hope of one last supper but we weren’t complaining.

We’d been lucky with the weather, as there had been only four fine days in the previous three weeks – a particularly wet period, they said. And we’d walked a track that relatively few will ever get to experience.

That night we were presented with our certificates and parted company with our fellow walkers. One old Japanese gentleman came up to my friends. “We like your joke about getting married but we think you make good couple. Have happy life” he said.