tramping new zealand

Travel offers you opportunities, which you can either take or ignore.

This trip has limited time pressure. I’ve been planning a few long hikes which never eventuated, so I was well ahead of my fuzzy schedule.

Being in the area, I could have a side trip to Milford, because if you are in Te Anau, why not go there for the day?

A clear night meant an icy road, so I had a leisurely breakfast at the Sandfly Cafe to give some time for other vehicles to deal with it. Once in the Eglinton Valley, thick fog obscured the views, but it cleared once I hit The Divide.

It was strange to think that over in the next parallel valley, I stayed at Forks Hut near the Mavora Lakes just a few months before. The difference between the old dusty musterers’ hut and the touristy Milford Highway is massive.

By the time I was approaching the tunnel, I had changed my mind. Why not pop across the river to see Homer Hut, a New Zealand Alpine Club hut not far off the highway?

I spoke with two occupants who had spent the previous night at the location. They wanted to go a short way up an icy Gertrude Saddle. I had a different plan.

Go down to the old Gunn’s Camp.

I walked past it a few years ago, but it has since been almost wiped out by a massive land slump on one side, and the Hollyford River/Wakatipu Ka Tuka changed its flow to the nearer side of the valley, closer to the camp.

I found that it was currently condemned due to the lack of viable septic tanks for sewage disposal.

The 30-year lease was almost up, and the trustees were determining whether it was worth reviving the camp.

I was sceptical. There’s so much to do to modernise a place that had been abandoned for five years, with some huts dating back to the 1930s. That would take immense effort, and I wondered where the people who would use it would come from.

Then, on the way back, I scooted up the valley to visit Boyd Creek Hut to add to my hutbagger tally. Later, I found out it was built by old boys of Southland Boys’ High School for use by the pupils as an outdoor education centre. It hadn’t seemed to have attracted much use in recent times, based on the evidence.

So, the day was catching up on territory I’ve driven through on many occasions, rather than reacquainting myself with the quite familiar Milford Sound.

Worth it, in my view.