Dusky track

Our next adventure takes us deep into the Fiordlands to one of the most remote and difficult tracks NZ has to offer……this is the trip Steve and I have been preparing for all summer…the adventure was about to begin.

But first we had to hitch hike to our pick up point Tuatapere which was about 70 some kms away. We headed to the road and stuck out our thumbs….after a series of short rides further up the road and 4 hours later we were lucky to be picked up by a gentleman who actually owned the backpackers in Tuatapere and took us directly there. While hitchhiking we met up with Chi (a Japanese girl we met on another tramp) who was heading the same way to complete the Dusky with us. When we arrived at the backpackers we also met up with Markus (a Swiss guy we met at on Stewart island) we told him we were doing the dusky and so he decided to meet up with us and make a trip out of it!

We were picked up the next day and bused out to our drop off point where we were taking the water taxi across Lake Hauroko (deepest lake in NZ). The water taxi took us to the trail head of the dusky track…and the adventure began!

The first day was pretty easy, it took us 3 hrs to reach the first hut, where we spent the night…Steve was a mad mouse trapper and was on a mission the whole trip to catch as many mice as possible…by his eco-friendly, not so humane mouse trap….needed supplies: 1 glass bottle, dirty sock (dirty is not a requirement…but usually socks left in the hut are not the cleanest), piece of bait(chocolate or bread), bucket of water….. mouse climbs up the bottle with the sock….wonders out to the end for the goodie…slips on the bottle and falls into the bucket of water….tries to swim to stay alive…eventually tires out and drowns(this is the inhumane part of trap)…..but it works…and Steve would have been able to make a nice hat out of his mouse catches…(at least the fur would have been freshly washed). The next day we headed out…the track was a bit muddy in areas and one had to be careful when attempting to cross mud bogs..when in doubt let someone else go first…if they fall in take a different route! We went up and over a mountain pass, but the weather was over cast so we didn’t see much…we made it to the next hut in good timing so we decided to move on to the next hut….good idea at the time…but turned into a really long day for myself……when we hit the 9 hour mark, my legs and feet were telling me to stop! The worse part was the downhill bit…because it was STRAIGHT down…at times you had to turn backwards and work your way down by holding on to roots and sometimes there was a chain attached that you could climb down making it a bit easier….the weather was good, in that it wasn’t raining which met we could make the final river crossing (walk wires…there were 22 of them on this track…CRAZY) to the lock Maree hut. I think this was the most my body has ever been so physically fatigued in a long time….my legs were defiantly feeling the 9 hours of ups and downs..and I was extremely excited to catch some ZZZZZ’s!

The next morning we work up to BLUE skies…..and we were doing a side trip to supper cove, which is a little cove off the ocean. The plan was to stay here for a day off and spend two nights at the hut. It was a pretty easy walk to the hut, with no real crazy parts…there was a ladder at one spot..that was neat and I must say unexpected. We made it too the cove and decided to try and walk across as the tide was going out. We didn’t really know where the hut was…and I don’t think the tide was fully out…for we started to walk across and it wasn’t long before Steve was up and over his chest in water..with pack floating behind him!!! Needless to say we got a bit wet but it was all in the fun! We made it too the hut by finding the track again and it was situated in a really neat place! I am so glad we skipped a hut the other day, for it allowed us this extra day at supper cove and it was sooo worth it!! There were plenty of fishing lines left in the hut and we put them to good use…we caught plenty of fish (Steve was the fisherman out of the group, or he had horseshoes up his butt…one of the two) the first night we were there….as we were fishing off the rocks….a bunch of blue sharks decided to turn up(6 of them)! They were eerie to watch for they just lurked around the rocks and they were about 5 feet long. We tried catching some shark but they were not interested in the fish heads dangling in front of them!(I think they were smarter than we thought!). So that evening we had a fish fry and learned how to play a Swiss card game…which became our staple evening activity for the rest of the trip…it was a partner game and the Japanese/Swiss combo were defiantly the winners over all! The next day, we were all excited to sleep in but at 7:00 am the Keas (mountain parrot) decided to give us a tap dance show on the tin roof of the hut! And then at 7;15 AM a huge fishing boat came into the cove and we thought we were going to be invaded by hunters….but then over the mountain tops came 2 helicopters…it was like grand central station…..there was a major transfer of goods and people from both chopper and boat. We think the boat dropped off a bunch of hunters who were then choppered up to the high country to hunt. We were all up to watch the excitement and then all back in bed by 9:00 am for a nap! We spent the day playing cards and in the evening Markus dove for a feed of muscles and Steve was determined to get us all another fish feed. He was overly successful and caught the biggest cods of this life! So with four huge blue cods to eat and over 25 muscles…we were Spoiled!! It also helped that Markus happened to be the son of a chef…and it was obvious that his dad’s work rubbed off on him..for we had the best fish feed and muscles I have ever had!! Ohhh the hard life of a tramper…..the next day we made our way back to Lock Maree.

The next morning we awoke to rain….which was frustrating because the next part of the track led us up to the tops again. The track became much more muddier and roots became more slippery making the track a bit more of a challenge but nothing that wasn’t doable! There were a couple of points where we were slopping through water up to our hips…but we didn’t have to swim…so all is good! We made it to the hut all looking like drowned rats. It was nice to warm up by the fire and attempt to dry out our clothing…our boots were hopeless….for you have to accept the fact that you will always have wet feet! This was our last night on the dusky track for the next day we were on our way out!
It was just our luck for the next day was a BLUE sky day….I suggested going back up to the tops to check out the sites but the others weren’t so keen…..it would have been nice…but I was also looking forward to the trip out…plus we had a boat to catch! We made it too the end of the track…and were all very satisfied that we conquered the dusky. We all found the track not as hard as everyone was saying, but then again we had good weather. I could only imagine the track with 8 days of rain straight…would have been hip deep in water and mud all day long! The worse part of the whole trip was at the end of the track there is a 45 min. walk down a gravel road to where the Ferry terminal was! But all was good and we made it out safe and sound!

Markus invited all of us to Queenstown where he wanted to treat us to a hotel and a seafood dinner……Steve, Chi and I were then royally spoiled by Markus’s invitation for we stayed at a really nice hotel and ate at probably ‘the best’ seafood place in Queenstown. We drank way to much wine…and ate more then our bellies could handle! Now that is how you end a tramping trip………….