Our last night on the trip was in Milford, where Ultimate Hikes has taken over the old THC hotel. We were shown to our allocated rooms, and reunited with our "orange bags", which we eagerly opened to see what clean clothes we had sent to our future selves when we packed that bag several days ago. It turned out that my past self wasn't very imaginative, so I'm going to have to wear these pants for another day.
The hotel is comfortable, with a view directly down the sound to world-famous Mitre Peak. Our last adventure on the trip is a cruise down Milford Sound to the open ocean on a big tourist boat.
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| The lounge in the Milford Lodge - very comfortable. |
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| A small cruise ship passing us. |
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| Some of our Japanese ladies enjoying the wind on the cruise! |
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| Karen and Neil, from Auckland. Just five of the fifty in our trip were New Zealanders. |
There were fifty people on our trip, five of them kiwis. About fifteen were japanese, mainly quite small women who seemed to have no trouble with the terrain and were obviously enjoying themselves. We talked a lot to Tom (a journalist) and his wife Carol from Montana. Bob (MBE, from Bristol, UK) was here in NZ to walk all the Great Walks in the South Island (except for Stewart Island)! He didn't say much, but is ex-British Army and has spent years in places like Afghanistan, the Balkans, and East Timor. There was an australian couple, Graeme and Lynne, with their grandson Toby who was the youngest on the trip. Most of the people we spoke to seemed to have travelled and hiked everywhere - at least one including Antartica.
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| The full team photo. |
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| Bowen Falls in Milford Sound (162 metres) |
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| Our boat was the one on the right - Milford Monarch |
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| Boarding the bus in Milford, for the trip back to Queenstown. |
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| Our head guide, Kelly. |
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| Mitre Peak, with the sun out. |
We really enjoyed our trip with Ultimate Hikes. Our four guides were very good, complete with a dry kiwi sense of humour, and they seemed to really enjoy their job. The lodges were warm, well maintained, and comfortable, and the food was plentiful and good. There is wine and beer if you want to buy it. There are permanent staff at each lodge ("lodgies") who welcome you and show you your room, and run the kitchen, etc. The guides don't get much rest - they double as kitchen staff and waiters! Each night they run a presentation where they show you pictures and information about the next day's walk, and answer any questions.
A great trip!
