Which Tramp - Hollyford, Routeburn or Milford Track

Old Dec 17th, 2005, 05:19 AM
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Which Tramp - Hollyford, Routeburn or Milford Track

Thank you to all who answered my other posting. I'll be in NZ for a short period of time (one week on the North Island for work and hopefully some sightseeing and then one week in the South Island for fun). I like to hike and as I'll be traveling alone, I'd like to go on an organized/group trip.

So please help me pick between these three hikes. Advantages? Which has better scenery? I'll be there in February. I am in okay shape, not fantastic, but I'm young so I guess that counts for something.

Also, does anyone have experience with the company Hiking New Zealand?

thanks
Sally30 is offline  
Old Dec 17th, 2005, 07:45 AM
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I have only done the Hollyford Track, so I can't compare it with the others. But I'll tell you about our experience and you can judge whether you'd like to do it yourself.
We did the guided Hollyford Track 3-day trip in January 2002. It was me and my husband (then aged mid-40's)and our two children aged 14 and 11 at the time. The other folks on the tour ranged from late 20's to mid 60's, so there was a wide range of ages. The thing that attracted me to this hike as opposed to other ones was that it was a hike from the mountains to the sea, so it was mostly in a downhill direction.
The evening before we started, we all met with one of the guides to go over some details and to get our backpacks and ponchos. It was a good, informative meeting.
The next morning, we boarded the bus after breakfast and drove to start of the Track, making one stop at a little museum for morning tea. Our guide was a man named John who was probably 60+ in age and seemed to know everything about this part of New Zealand. He was quite knowledgable about plant life in particular. He would stop and explain things whenever anyone wanted to stop. Since our family prefers to enjoy nature in silence, we decided to break away from the group and hike by ourselves until we met up at the hut for our box lunches. While it was obvious that John would have preferred us all to stay together, we took off (as did another lone hiker who was a fast walker). The pre-lunch walk was quite easy and scenic (as was the entire hike).
After lunch, there was one steep place where we had to walk through a saddle. We also met up with our 2nd guide, Jason, who was coming from the first night's lodge to accompany us for the rest of the trip. Jason was in his early 20's and a lot of fun. The hike through the saddle was really the only difficult part of the entire trip.
We reached the first lodge around 4 or 5 pm as I remember and everyone headed to the showers and to choose a room. The rooms were basically just a set of bunk beds and a little table, but that's all you needed since we spent most of our time in the lodge "great room". The beds were, however, quite comfortable. The wine flowed freely and the food was fabulous! After dinner, we walked down to feed the eels in the lake. My kids were the only ones who would hand-feed them.
The next morning, we detoured over to a huge swinging bridge and then hiked down to the lake where the jet boat picked us up to carry us to the far end of the lake where we picked up the trail. The hike this day was shorter and much easier with a stop along the way to learn some of the history of the area--fascinating! As we approached the 2nd night's lodge, we realized we were walking on the lodge's runway. This lodge was a bit nicer than the 1st lodge, but they were both good. We got here in time for lunch and then we all headed out to the seal rocks--another 5 or 6 km hike.
I was a bit tired at this point, so I didn't walk too much once we got to the rocks. However, my husband and son did and were rewarded with views of baby seals. One woman had pulled a muscle or something in her leg and was having some trouble walking and my daughter was suffering from sandfly bites, so they arranged to take them out to the rocks on the jetboat, which I thought was very nice. We all returned to the lodge on the jetboat.
That evening after another great dinner, we went out to see a glowworm grotto. Be sure to take a flashlight with you for this short hike as it is very dark! We also saw the most beautiful sunset in the world over the lake that evening (which impressed my daughter so much that she has written about it in one one of her college admissions essays.)
On the final day, we flew out in the the 6-seater plane to Milford Sound to tour the Sound by boat. Some of the hikers remained behind to return by foot the way we had come. After our tour of the Sound, we were bussed back to Te Anau with a couple of stops along the way to see the sights. Our bus driver, who acted as our guide at this point, was fabulous!
This is a wonderful hike, but I must advise you that sandflies are a problem on all the tracks in the summer. My daughter and I seemed to have been affected most by their bites while my husband and son weren't nearly so much. I would recommmend that when you get to Te Anau before the hike that you go to the chemist's shop (pharmacy) and tell them you need the most industrial strength insect repellant that they have. Then, when you get back pick up some Zyrtec--it really relieved the symptoms for me.
Also, I would not worry about not being an Olympic athlete. If you are in decent shape, you can do this hike. (Some of the 60-year-olds put us younger ones to shame!)
That being said, this hike was one of the most wonderful experiences of my life and I still love wearing the "Hollyford Track" polo shirt that I bought. Check out their website for more info.
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Old Dec 17th, 2005, 12:04 PM
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Thank you for that great response! Which company did you go with Longhorn55? Was the company itself called Hollyford Track? I think that is the name of the company I just emailed (their email address is [email protected]).

Are sandfly bites like mosquito bites? i always get bitten so I probably should follow your advice and get some medicine in advance.
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Old Dec 17th, 2005, 02:17 PM
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Yes, you contact the company through that e-mail address. Yes, sandfly bites are similar to mosquito bites, but I have to admit I found them much worse than mosquitos. Don't be discouraged by that, but do be prepared.
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Old Dec 18th, 2005, 01:36 AM
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Hi Sally ,

I've done the Routeburn and the Milford but not the Hollyford but I've seen where it goes.

To do a comparison of all 3 walks try the Department of Conservation web-site which gives details of all 3 and allows you to book / see availability for walks. Including many other worthwhile tramps in the area

http://www.doc.govt.nz/Explore/002~T...alks/index.asp

If you like spectacular scenery then the Routeburn is the one I'd recommend and it's probably a little easier than the Milford and less sandfly prone than the other two, but really all 3 are worthwhile.
And National Geographic recommends the Routeburn in it's World's Classic hikes

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ad...trails_01.html

What I would say however is that for the Milford or Routeburn I wouldn't bother with a guided trip. There are loads of other 'lone' trampers on each and you'll meet and make friends with everyone you walk with on the way. In addition the hut systems on NZ walks are so well organized (with hut wardens , kitchen facilities etc) it's hard to see what benefit going to the much more expensive private huts would offer.

Anyway whatever you chose go to the DOCs website

Whichever one you pick will be great !
MikeD is offline  
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