I awoke around 3am and then had a fitful sleep until 5.30 - when the alarm, set by a previous inhabitant of the room went off -the alarm on my phone had been set for 6.15 and had now been made redundant. John made tea while I opened the curtains to see we had had rain overnight and the clouds were lying over the hills - the lovely sunshine of yesterday had gone. I have been addicted to the 5 day forecast for Milford - which seems to change daily - I think our one mile walk today will be wet but tomorrow does look more hopeful with sunshine and showers, the worst day looks like Tuesday which is our big climbing day with Wednesday our longest walking day dry -but only time will tell if these predictions materialise! Our rucksacks are packed and the good thing is they are half the weight of our Stewart island packs. As our taxi arrived before 7.45 we headed off a little earlier than planned to the Ultimate Hikes office in Queenstown - a few others on the trip were already milling around- trepidation and anticipation filled the air! We left our bag for the last night with the desk and headed off, with our packs on our backs, for a coffee before our 0900 departure. When we returned many more people had arrived and several were making last minute, just in case, purchases and hiring walking poles. We decided we needed nothing-else as anything we bought would have to be carried and we weren't up for that!
At the scheduled time we boarded the coach and set off in sunshine; the time to the lunch stop at Te Aneau whizzed past as we had a running commentary from the coach driver. I only learnt from our lunchtime companions - a larger than life couple - Melanie, a Kiwi of Maori descent and now British Citizen living in London and her French husband Stephan, that the kiwi drivers Maori pronunciation of place names was less than desirable and profoundly irritating to those in the know!
The weather had now turned showery and it became heavier as we proceeded the 25 minutes by coach to the wharf where we boarded the boat to Glade house, our first overnight stop, and didn't let up. Enroute we passed a memorial to McKinnon ( the early guide who was behind the construction of the Milford track) The cross ( today's picture) was erected to depict his watery demise - his boat was found but he was never seen again and most likely drowned in the lake. When we got off at the boat after a 75 minute lake crossing we dipped our feet in some tubs to remove any traveling fungus and made we our way quickly to Glade House - which was approximately a mile away. The independent walkers left ahead of us as their hut was a 90 minute walk further on. On arrival we were given the keys to ensuite room 5, the same number we would get every night. At 3pm we all assembled for our group 66 (the 66th group on the track this season) photograph which was taken outside in the pouring rain. An omen of things to come perhaps?!!
Duly kitted out in our wet weather gear we headed off with our guides on a 90 minute nature walk - to help with vegetation identification on the trail over the next 3 days - we ended at a fast flowing confluence of rivers called Glen Burn and made our own way back to the lodge for a shower and supper.....blue cod main course with apple strudel desert tonight- it was an excellent quality and really set the standard for the trip.
After supper we had a group introduction and a briefing for tomorrow's hike. Our fellow walkers are an eclectic mix of nationalities - from - Australia, England, USA, Germany, Spain, Japan, New Caledonia, South Korea, New Zealand and France. Our guides were similarly international Annabel and Amelia from New Zealand, Kelly from South Korea and Musako from Japan.
I am really looking forward to setting off on the Milford Track - John is a little more circumspect - and is wondering if his age will be against him- I am sure he is fitter than most that are half his age!