31 March 2016
So this is it! A year of preparation has lead up to one moment.
Waiting at the wharf
Today I woke after a bit of a troubled night. To be fair the bed wasn’t the greatest, but I was staying at a backpackers at Te Anau Downs just 200 m from where the boat leaves to the start of the Milford Track.
I had a breakfast of bacon and egg sandwiches, and in what I took to be a good omen, there were 5 double yolkers in the pack of six eggs. Lucky Me!
Double the Yolk
After some last minute preparations and packing we went down to the wharf and waited . . .
and waited . . .
and waited . . .
and waited . . .
Finally I was on the boat and gliding along Lake Te Anau.
Along Lake Te Anau
It is an hour boat ride to the top end of Lake Te Anau with just the most amazing views along the way, and some interesting facts and figures provided by the crew (did you know Lake Te Anau is the largest resoviour of fresh water in Australasia? – it is).
We got to the jetty at Glade Wharf and disembarked. I was anxious but confident as I stepped off and into the didymo treatment buckets.
Start of the Milford Track
The walk from the Glade Wharf to Clinton hut is only a short and easy walk of 5 km. It follows the Clinton river through lush tropical rainforest which is just the most gorgeous shade of green, everything seemed to be hung with moss, it was almost too perfect, like it had been set up to look that way. It tinged everything with a light green hue, especially the water in the river. The Clinton is a beautiful river.
Green Rainforest
There was a short side trip about 3/4 of the way along the track into some wetlands which was informative and showed a completely different landscape.
Wetlands
The Clinton River
I got to the hut and settled in at about 1:30 pm. It started to rain at about 2:30 pm. The forecast is for rain for the rest of the walk : good thing I am prepared for it.
The remainder of the day was spent chatting in the hut with some of the other people who are independent walkers of the track with me (which means we aren’t part of a guided trip. The guided walkers stay in private huts different from those provided by the Department of Conservation (DoC). They have all meals provided and bedding, the works . . . jerks).
The DoC ranger, Ross, came by and took some of us to see some Weka chicks. These were the first Weka chicks he had seen in 7 years at Clinton hut. The predator control measures they are taking here are working 
Ross later gave an interesting hut talk that evening. He is a man passionate about the bird life in Fiordland.
Dinner was freeze dried roast lamb and mash potato with minted peas. I didn’t follow the preparation instructions on the packet and cooked it up in my billy instead of soaking it in the foil bag. Man that makes a massive difference to the taste and quality of the meal. It was fantastic, turned out brilliantly.
The hut itself is fantastic with two bunk houses and a main hut. The toilets are flush toilets (I was expecting long drops) and there is solar electric lights in the main hut. Also each bunk is a seperate bed rather than a long area with mattresses and all of us lying in a big huddle.
Clinton Hut
I got an early night sleep, turning in at just after 9 pm, so that I could get an early start the next morning, with the first real day of walking. I was not expecting a good night sleep, and was worried about if the travel CPAP I had humped along with me was worth the effort, and wouldn’t annoy people (although my snoring definitely would have). I was worried about the weight of my pack which clocked in at 21 kg when I weighed it just before I left. Which was a good 4-5 kg more than I wanted. Not sure how that happened. I had been careful about planning the weight. It must have been last minute supplies.
I was feeling quite confident. It was a good day.
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