Hollyford Track - Day 3

The variant this morning was that we were woken by one of the guides (Bard) singing a Maori greeting!  The forecast today is horrible and the clouds are already dark at the tops of the mountains along the Hollyford Valley.  The usual form is that having done a morning's walking, guests are flown out in a light aircraft along the coast and into Milford Sound.  We are told that the plane company is not going to fly today and that we will be helicoptered out!!  After breakfast we go in the jet boat to the sand dunes at Martin's Bay.  Our walk teaches us to how plants colonise the dunes, stabilise them and how, eventually, the rainforest takes over.  We see the evidence of the Maori settlements and the remains of one of the few houses uses by the later settlers who tried to make a living in the area.  We are regaled with a number of stories (not all wholly believable) as to why a certain grass grows toward the sea, how a daughter of the settlers was wooed and why there is a stand of Eucalyptus trees on the dunes in New Zealand.  The last stretch of walking is a walk along the beach back to the mouth of the Hollyford River - this is some 4 km of sand, some of which is soft and therefore quite testing for some (by now) rather tired legs.  Some of our group found it very hard work and we are soon stretched out over a good few hundred metres.(guess who was at the front!!!!) All was going well until a rogue wave caught Ingrid by surprise and she ended up with one very soggy foot (she was very grateful it didn't happen on day 1)  Then it is back by jet-boat to the Lodge for lunch.  As we are eating, the first helicopter arrives.  We are to go out in three groups.  As the weather is closing in, the helicopter company is sending in three machines to get us out (rather than by doing it in relays with two machines).  We are in a six seater and no sooner than we take off, it starts lashing down and the mix of the rain, wind and pace of the helicopter makes for something of an adrenaline filled ride.  The view is limited by the rain but, in Milford Sound, the waterfalls that have not been flowing are now cascading down the fjord and it is very impressive.  The only sad point is that one does not get a view of the whole of Milford Sound.  After landing, we scurry to the coach and a four hour ride via Te Anau back to Queenstown.  All in all, we were very lucky with the weather on our trek - those starting today (and there is a group including the mother of one of the lodge hosts) are in for a very wet and miserable first day.

Martins Bay Lodge