Hollyford Track - Day 1

Tramping under the forest canopy

An early start for us this morning as we were picked up from our hotel at 0640.  We were coached to a place called Te Anau where the group for our walk congregated.  We were a group of 14 - 5 English, 2 Danes, 5 Aussies and a pair of Kiwis.  We had two guides - Mike the chief guide and Bard (sic) who used to be chief guide and had been called back in to cover a gap in the roster so we were going to be well looked after.  Back on the coach we had a further ride into the Fiordland National Park and down to the start of the walk.  We actually started walking at about 11.30.  In spite of the doomsayers at the briefing and the general weather pattern of the Southlands, it was sunny (although, we were told, there was rain on the way sometime over the next day or so).  The first limb of the walk is predominantly under the rainforest canopy and the guides talk you through the types of tree and how the climate and other matters affect the fauna.  The walk is along the Hollyford valley, which was created by a glacier and has steep sides and plenty of creeks that, when it rains, turn into cascades of water.  We stopped for lunch about 2.20, which we ate whilst sitting on the rocks in the river bed - the river being low at this time of year both by virtue of it being summer and because it has been drier than usual.  The stop was not very long and we were back on the track for another botany lesson.  Although most of the track is fairly close to the river (which is quite drinkable so it was handy to keep topping up our water bottles!) and, therefore, not overly hilly, there is a gorge and part of the first day's walk is over a hill to avoid this.  The uphill section is about 45 minutes of climbing (not too bad really and not as tough as we feared);  the downhill stretch the other side turned out to be more difficult - a mix of the gradient, the loose surface and the slight imblance given by the back-pack.  The reward at the bottom was a short break by a beautiful waterfall.  After this was the final push to the 'hut' where we were to spend the night (which was about an hour and a quarter);  at this point the guides fell to the back of the group and in the knowledge that there were only three showers at the hut, we pressed on with a view to getting out of our boots and into a shower as early as we could.  It was a successful tactic and, refreshed, we were able to adjourn to the lounge and get a drink and chat with the other members of the group.  After dinner not many were enthuastic to feed the eels or go and see some glow worms (we had just spent nearly 7 hours walking with a back pack!) - a glass of wine and an early night were in order as a 6.45 wake up call was to greet us next morning.  We adjourned to our bunks (yes, each room had two bunks in it) and hoped that we would not be too stiff in the morning.