Milford Track - 64km (39 miles) - four days - Great Walk 7/9

Day One: The easiest first day of a Great Walk ever! We caught a ferry to the start, before strolling the 1.5hour track to our first hut in time for lunch. It was a beautiful spot by the river and we swam, read and sketched the afternoon away in the sunshine... very civilised indeed!

Day Two: The track followed the river through the valley for about six hours. The water was crystal clear with a beautiful emerald hue, there were mountains on either side and blue sky stretching out above. We had a lovely day's walk.

On reaching our hut we relaxed a while, before deciding to make the most of the stunning weather and setting out for our usual evening stroll. This time it was more of a evening beasting up to the pass to watch the sunset. We took our dinner with us and headed for the hills...

... a tough slog, made very worth while as we gained spectacular views on Mackinon pass. The soft evening light cast a golden glow over the alpine moorland exposing the mountain tarns (lakes). As the sun sank in the sky a number of waterfalls on the opposite cliff caught the light and were transformed into cascading rainbows. It was beyond description!

Day Three: This was due to be the longest day of walking and after our 9 hour trek yesterday, it took some time to wake the legs up. Hard to be sleepy though with a backdrop like this:

Initially when we reached the pass (for the 2nd time), the views were nowhere to be seen. Fog had descended obscuring the mountains, fortunately this soon started to clear. Dave looked out from '12 second rock' (so called as this is the time it takes to hit the bottom if you wanted to jump - Dave didn't)

Several Kia (mountain parrot) came investigating us in the mist, the striking colour under their wings is only visible when they're in flight.

The wind continued to sweep the mist from the pass, once again bathing us in sunshine.

We were standing on the rim of a cauldron of mountains... what lay before us confused our sense of scale and left us scrambling for words (we said 'Wow' a lot).

The pass is marked with a monument dedicated to the first explorer to forge the Milford Track... Mr Mackinon - good job!

We looked back down the valley at the route we had tramped over the previous two days.

The track continued through some of the most majestic scenery we have ever encountered. New Zealand continues to be an enhancement on everywhere we have ever been!

The second part of the walk belongs to the waterfalls...

... the most impressive of these was Sutherland Falls. At 580m in height, it is NZ's highest waterfall - the sound was tremendous.

Dave got close enough to cool down in the spray. It had been another 9 hour walk when we finally reached the hut. After a quick swim and a even quicker dash back to the hut to get away from the sandflies, it was all we could do to crawl exhausted into our sleeping bags.

Day Four: 18km's of fairly flat(ish) track to finish of the walk, just as well as we were both pretty bushed. The waterfalls continued to impress, winding their way through fairy-tail forests.

The packs were much lighter (having eaten everything that was remotely edible) so we made good time reaching the finish to catch our ferry back.

The picture postcard sight of Milford Sound with the famous Mitre Peak was our final reward after an incredible tramp (except for the wine & pizza when we got back).

'The Worlds Greatest Walk' is how the Milford Track is described... an audacious claim we thought, but that was before we had done it :-)