The Hollyford 2016
Arriving in Te Anau in anticipation of good weather and a good tramp, we descended on the Te Anau Club for takeaways. We stayed at the Lakeview Holiday Park and the accommodation was fantastic.
Day 1: We arrived at the Hollyford road end approximately 10am and before starting, we did a short walk to the Humbolt Falls. En route to Alabaster Hut, we met several parties coming out and we also took in the Hidden Falls. The track is mainly through bush and six hours later we were at Alabaster Hut. The fire was on and beds available.
Day 2: We left the hut at 6.30am so were walking in the dark for about 1.5 hours. The track became much rougher after crossing the Pyke swingbridge. The 6 hours from Alabaster to Demon Trail Hut was an undulating rocky track with tree fall. We arrived at Demon Trail Hut at 12.30pm. As it was another 5-6 hours to Hokuri, it was decided to stay at Demon Trail Hut for the night. The sunny afternoon with Tomtits, Tuis, Fantails and an amazing view over Lake McKerrow gave everyone a well needed boost. The sandflies loved Bill. With the fire on in the hut, we all had an early night in anticipation of a big day the next day.
Day 3: On the track at 6.30am, we crossed several three wire bridges. The Rainbow Creek swingbridge had been damaged by tree fall, so we found an alternative route. The Demon Trail is a rocky undulating route which can get tiresome so everyone was glad to see Hokuri Hut. A brief lunch here and then the route took us down to Lake McKerrow and alongside the lake for two hours. We stopped in to see the Wilderness Homestay, Charlies Place, which is only open when they have bookings. The bath is outside and half filled with water and frozen over, however there is a copper to heat the water!
Further along Lake McKerrow, is Jamestown, a settlement where Hugh and Malcolm McKenzie grazed cattle and drove them to saleyards at Mossburn, 250km away. They sold out to Davey Gunn in 1926. We continued through bush and it opened out to grass flats, including the airstrip. Late afternoon, we arrived at Martins Bay, with Kate chopping wood. The NZ Fur Seals were lapping up the sunshine and having “playtime” together in a swimming hole. The tramp in had not been easy and so, there was a real sense of achievement for all of us. There had been blue skies, sunshine and no wind for the entire weekend – for Fiordland, this was unbelievable.
The helicopter flight to Milford Sound was brilliant. Tim’s brother, Nic gave Robbie and I a ride back to the vehicles at Hollyford road end, and after some car shuffling, we headed home.
Many Thanks for being such a resilient and fantastic group to go tramping with.
Robbie, Kate, Jen, Tim, Bronwyn, Bill, Jane and Bess
