Hollyford Track Day 3 Jan 18

Hollyford Track Day 3 Jan 18, 2013








After another night of comfort at Martin's Bay Lodge, we finished breakfast then boarded the jet boat.
Jet boat Johnny took us to Martin’s Bay Beach to a place where, as the story goes, the Maori met visitors to determine whether they were friends or foe.





Their village was some distance away for safety reasons. If determined friendly, visitors were invited to their village. It was not made clear what happened to visitors who were considered unfriendly. Maybe they killed them!

We learned later in the day that Maori would eat their enemies. They considered the act of ingesting their enemies then letting their waste pass through their digestive system and coming out as excrement to be the ultimate insult.


Every time I hear or read Chief Tutoko's name I chuckle. I think of that first meeting in 1863 between the chief and the explorers Daniel Alabaster and Skipper Duncan. How very strange it must have been for the explorers to encounter Tutoko dressed in an American Civil War uniform! The story goes that he traded the uniform with a West Coast settler.

Sarah told us that when Alabaster and Duncan were welcomed into the village they were shocked by how scantily clad Chief Tutoko’s two daughters were. After returning to the ship they engaged their sail maker into making dresses out of sail material for the daughters. Apparently, the daughters were quite pleased with their new clothing.

Walking down the beach we saw remnants of the Maori trail totally cleared of stones. The stones were removed by Maori so that Chief Tutoko could walk on a stone-free path. The Chief was a revered character, we were told by our guides, and much admired by his Maori tribe and by the early European settlers.






















Throughout our Hollyford hike sandflies have been a major nuisance. They were worse on Martin’s Bay Beach than they were in the forests. It is only the female that bites. After mating, the female searches for a meal of blood which is needed to produce eggs. They pierce the skin, creating a drop of blood they can suck. Little is known about the male, who must be a vegetarian!






















We left the beach and walked into the surrounding forest to the McKenzie Homestead. We circled around the ruins and remnants and heard the historical accounts of the reality of what everyday life was for those who ventured into this remote south-west corner of New Zealand. The terrible hardships that the McKenzie’s and fellow settlers endured, and the tenacity and stoicism with which they approached them, gives a real appreciation of the New Zealand pioneering spirit.























































After leaving the McKenzie Homestead ruins we walked the short distance through the forest and back on to the Martin’s Bay sand bar and Tasman Sea. From there it was a 7 km stroll between the shoreline and the sand-dunes to the northern tip of the bar where Jetboat Johnny was waiting to pick us up for the return to Martin’s Bay Lodge.





















































Lunch at the lodge was on the table when we returned at noon and we were asked to be ready to board our helicopter in 45 minutes for the flight through Milford Sound.
























After all our tramping through the valley it seemed like the ultimate luxury: a helicopter at the door and a flight skirting the rugged coast above Milford Sound, one of New Zealand’s most spectacular fiords. It's a suitably spectacular end to a truly World Heritage walk through the Hollyford Valley.





























Milford Sound was famously called “The Eighth Wonder of the World” by author Rudyard Kipling, and it is widely recognized as New Zealand’s number one tourist destination.


























































On bus ride back to Te Anau we went through the Homer Tunnel. The Homer Tunnel is a ¾ mile long tunnel on the road from Milford Sound to Te Anau and Queenstown. It pierces the Darran Mountain range at the Homer Saddle.

The tunnel is straight and was originally single-lane and gravel-surfaced. The tunnel walls remain unlined granite. The east portal end is at 3000 feet elevation. Until it was sealed and enlarged it was the longest gravel-surfaced tunnel in the world.


Ol' Homey has become the venue for one of New Zealand's most unusual annual events – known locally as the Great Annual Naked Tunnel Run. The race was originally conceived in 2000 and now attracts over 150 participants. There is a $20 entrance fee which is donated to charity. Competitors must run completely naked from east to west with nothing except a flashlight (or torch as the Kiwis call them) and running shoes. Alex, crew on the TUTOKO II from our Doubtful Sound excursion, jokingly said, “if contestants were given a choice of only one, men would choose the torch and women the running shoes.” The fastest male and female runners have their names engraved on the trophy, which for men is "Ken" doll and for women a "Barbie" (naked and in a running position, naturally)!










And that was about it for our Hollyford Track excursion. The bus dropped us off in Te Anau. We had a flat white coffee in a Te Anau café and called Roger from the Dunluce B&B to pick us up. We were glowing from the day’s experience and helicopter ride in Milford Sound and the previous two days experience on the Hollyford Track. We are looking forward to tomorrow and our overnight cruise on the Doubtful Sound which promises to round out our experience in New Zealand's extraordinary southwest coast.




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