Milford Track, New Zealand - Nov. 9-13, 2008

Having had so much fun walking England's Coast to Coast in July, we were excited about the possibility of hiking the "world's finest walk" - New Zealand's Milford Track - 4 days and 33 miles across Fiordland National Park on the South Island. It certainly lived up to our expectations. Except for some mist at the top of MacKinnon Pass, we had great weather throughout the journey. This time we had to carry our gear, but we were able to stay in very comfortable accommodations, with hot showers and laundry facilities. Meals were great and local wines were excellent. A big part of the pleasure of this walk was sharing the experience with a wonderful group of fellow "trampers" and 5 awesome guides. It was very difficult to pick only a few pictures from this amazing hike, as you will see below:

Waiting to board the ferry across Lake Te Anau

South Island Bush Robin Shaun, our fearless leaderSundews - Carniverous plants in the wetlandsClinton RiverOld Beech ForestIndependant hiker happy to have caught his dinnerThis bridge was washed out two days before!

A rare fungus flowerRoger, Robert and Bruce on the 11th? zig-zagNicholas CirqueWelcome party at the summitThank you Meg for the Milo and Alison for the Butterscotch Snapps!Peter and Francine at the memorial to Quintin MacKinnonClinton ValleyTwelve second drop!Tarns at the top of MacKinnon Pass

A Weka trying to draw us away from her nest.

We have to use the emergency route on our descent down to the valley- tough on the knees!

Sutherland Falls - highest in New Zealand and world's 5th highest.

Dinner at Quintin Lodge

Lady of the Snows

The mischievous New Zealand Kea

Arthur River

Peter and Caroline's wonderful picnic spot!

Giant's Gate Falls

New Zealand wood pigeon

The end of the track at Sandfly Point

Caroline, Peter, Robert (aka DAD) and Bruce on the way to Milford Sound

Rod and Melissa - happy to have made the first boat

Beautiful Mitre Peak

Very unusual cloud formation at Milford

Awesome guides: Neil, Shaun, Kathleen, Teresa and Meg

Milford Sound

Klaartje

Francine and Peter

Some of our favourite C2C photos

As promised, here are some of our favourite photos taken with Peter's camera. We hope you enjoy!

C2C Day 13 - July 26 - Glaisdale to Robin Hood's Bay - 19 miles

We made it! Today's walk included a variety of terrain from hiking through the woodlands of East Arncliffe and Littlebeck, the boggy moorlands of Sleights Moor and Greystone Hills, the pastureland, along the Esk and Littlebeck rivers and finally the coastal hike from High Hawsker to our final destination of Robin Hood's Bay. Other than the fells, it was like a summary of the entire trip on the final day. We passed through the beautiful village of Grosmont followed immediately by a 2 mile climb of 33 degrees. The day was sunny, hot and hazy and due to coastal fog, we were unable to see the North Sea until we were upon it. What a feeling as we reached the cliff tops for the final 3 miles into Robin Hood's Bay. We made our way down the steep steps of the village to the ocean and the traditional barefoot dipping and throwing of the 2 pebbles that we had carried from St. Bee's. This felt great to our tired, blistered feet! We then made our way to the Bay Hotel for a celebratory pint at Wainwright's Bar with Peter and Tish who finished at the same time as we did. (We had criss-crossed with them a number of times over the past few days).

This has been an amazing experience. As mentioned before, it was by far the most physically demanding thing that we have ever done. It was also the most fulfilling. We are now hooked on mutli-day walking but won't wait until our 50th anniversary for the next one. As they say, it was all about the journey and not the destination. We met a number of wonderful people - from fellow walkers to B&B hosts and locals and we have had great fun reading your comments of support. We hope you enjoyed the Blog and thank you for sharing the experience. Cheers!

PS: We are on our way to London for a couple of days, although we wish we could have stayed a few hours more to welcome Rachel, David and Shaun (who resumed the walk on painkillers after a day of rest and against doctor's and Mother's orders), upon their arrival at RHB.

Once we get back to Toronto, we will upload a few of the best photos of the walk taken with Peter's camera.

Littlebeck River

Robin Hood's Bay

C2C Day 12 - July 25 - Clay Bank Top to Glaisedale - 19 miles

After a wonderful send-off from the Sutcliffes, their daughter drove us back to where we left off the day before at Clay Bank Top. Almost immediately we began a climb up to Urra Moor - a desolate, windy and beautiful landscape. It was another gorgeous sunny day with very few clouds and we actually got sun burned. We walked five miles along an old abandoned railway track bed and on the way saw some of the best panoramas of the trip. We stopped for lunch at the infamous Lion Inn at Blakey Ridge and then plodded along for another 10 miles or so to the village of Glaisdale. Our feet our ACHING! Peter is hoping to get another day's worth on his blistered heels. We are relieving our pain at our home for the night - The Arncliffe Arms Inn and Pub where Marie has kindly allowed us to use her laptop to update the last 3 days. The end is in sight and we thrilled and sad at the same time.

Note to Michelle and Anniki - we'd love to meet you for coffee on Tuesday the 29th if you're available. Leave a cell number at the Marriott Renaissance Chancery Court.

Climbing Urra Moor

Ralph Cross - one of the Moorland Crosses

Trough House - an old shooting lodge