Jan 16 Day 1 Hollyford Track

Hollyford Track Day 1


We had spent the night at the Dunluce B&B, in a residential area 5 minutes from the town center of Te Anau. Dunluce is owned by an extremely nice couple, Roger and Wendy McQuillan. They gave us all kinds of tips for our three-day trek and the morning of our departure allowed us to store our luggage and leave our car in their driveway. Roger drove us into town to meet up with the hiking group.

The Hollyford Track is located at the northern edge of Fiordland and follows the Hollyford River which in turn follows the course of the Hollyford Valley.

The Māori people were the first to settle the Fiordland though by the time of the arrival of Europeans in the mid-19th century, only a handful remained in the area. One of these was Tutoko, for whom Mount Tutoko, which rises 2700m above the Hollyford valley, was subsequently named.

The track is about 36 miles in length. It runs in a roughly south-north direction, its southern end being accessible by road 10 miles to the east of the Homer Tunnel, and its northern end being at the Tasman Sea coast at Martins Bay, north of Milford Sound.

For most of its path, the track follows the course of the Hollyford River / Hollyford Valley. Features of the track are the two lakes, Lake Alabaster (or Waiwahuika) and Lake McKerrow (or Whakatipu Waitai), the latter being a fiord now cut off from the sea by sediment. The track runs through lowland forest, with views of surrounding mountains. Wildlife visible from the track include seals, penguins, and herons.

The Hollyford Track is part of the Department of Conservation network with several bunk huts scattered along its length. The guided operation we were on is operated by Ngai Tahu Tourism (owned by the main South Island Maori tribal group) who have their own Lodges at Pyke and Martins Bay.

The guided option we selected combined hiking, jetboating and a helicopter flight in a three day journey from the mountains to the sea. The first day was a hike which was between 10.5 and 13 miles (the guides weren’t quite sure of the exact length), the 2nd a 7 mile hike and a jetboat ride and 3rd day was a 5 mile hike, a jetboat ride and a helicopter ride over Millford Sound.

The Hollyford brochure states “You will need to have a reasonable level of fitness.” This was somewhat of an understatement we were to soon discover. Our anxiety was heightened when we met our fellow trampers, 8 in all, who were all experienced hikers who had come specifically to tramp the track. We joined up at Te Anau for the bus trip to the Hollyford Track starting point with 3 Australian couples, one recently retired Procter & Gamble executive from London who was on a worldwide trekking adventure, and a retired NZ nurse who led day hikes. They were slim, fit and all younger than Jerry and me.

It was also clear from the size of their backpacks that they had done this before. Ours were overstuffed and heavy.


Theirs were small and light. This was definitely a handicap. Once I saw one woman's teeny pack, I unloaded two sweaters, an extra pair of pants and extra socks and left them with the bus driver. My pack was still heavy.

At our briefing with Graham the previous night, we were asked to fill out the customary form for us to sign which held harmless the guide operator. The form also asked if we had any medical conditions which they should know about. And if “any guest is over 70 years of age, a Doctors certificate must be supplied." I didn’t mention my hip surgery and Jerry put down 69 instead of 71. By now we were having second thoughts about how rigorous the trek was and our fitness to do it.

We were too far into this to back out so we boarded the bus at Te Anau for the 1 ½ hour ride to the Hollyford Track start at Gunn’s Camp.

Murray Gunn, son of Davey Gunn (more on the legendary Davey follows) guided trampers in the area, and started "Gunn's Camp", a rest-stop for trampers which still stands near the southern end of the track, around 10 km from the Milford Sound-Te Anau highway.

David "Davey" Gunn (1887-1955), spent 30 years of his life living and working in Fiordland's rugged Hollyford Valley. He opened up the area with hiking paths and accommodations and established a reputation for complete self-reliance in extremely rough country. We heard many stories of his exploits from our guides Sarah and Jennie.

Davey was seen as a modern-day cowboy living a carefree life in one of New Zealand's most beautiful landscapes. He established one of the most isolated cattle runs in New Zealand and in the mid-1930s to boost his income he pioneered guided walking and riding trips in the Hollyford valley. Gunn cut a number of well used tracks and erected huts in the more remote parts of Hollyford which we “tramped” on.

As we hiked along the rough and meandering foot trails, Sarah told us several stories about Davey, including his most famous exploit which Sarah told with undisguised admiration. She described how, in 1936, Gunn ran ("with a broken rib!") and rowed the 15km length of Lake McKerrow ("with mismatched oars!") to raise the alarm about a plane crash at Big Bay, covering 54 miles, a trip that normally took four days, in just 20 hours. This feat of endurance saved the lives of at least two men and earned Davey legend status throughout NZ.

Gunn's Camp is a scattering of cabins around a shop and a little museum. Inside it are black and white photographs of scruffy-looking men in battered hats.

Rusty iron tools, gold pans and horse-shoes are nailed to the walls, along with yellowing newspaper clippings recording landslides, floods and bridge wash-outs.

Dominating the room, though, is a worn saddle on a rack, its label reading "Davie Gunns saddle he was drowned from". There is also a faded newspaper article on the death of Davey Gunn on Christmas Day 1955. He had nudged his horse into the Hollyford River near Hidden Falls with a 14-year-old boy mounted behind him. The horse stumbled and fell, and both riders were swept away and drowned. Neither could swim.












































After our stop at Gunn's Camp we continued to the start of the track and the beginning of our three days on The Hollyford Trail.













Shortly after starting our hike Sarah informs us "I need to warn you about dangerous plants." She points to the leafy shrub beside her. "This is tutu. It's poisoned circus elephants that ate the seeds. And that over there is stinging nettle."




















































The scenery takes our breath away. The first day of Hollyford Track has a “wee” hill as Sarah put it which turns out to be nearly a 600 foot hill climb. The first day was the hardest as it was 10 plus miles of rugged up and down pathway along the river.





































































At about a halfway point one of our fellow hikers, Alan, asked how I found the hike. I told him that this was the first backpacking hike I had ever done so I had no other to compare it with. Alan said he was amazed that the Hollyford was such an “easy trail.” My thought was if this was his idea of an easy hike that I was in for a tough 3 days!










































Clear, cold and turquoise, the Hollyford River is upstaged only by the mountains and glaciers gleaming white above our heads. The water was so clean and cold, we used it to fill our water bottles. It is an incredibly scenic rainforest. And, appropriately, It rained most of the day.




























I tend to look down at the track to watch my footing but Sarah stopped often and asked us to be more aware of the foliage along the path, and her enthusiasm was catching. We shared her thrill in gazing at an unassuming fern, tmesipteris - "460 million years old! It's Jurassic she said!" - and nibble supplejack vine that tastes like asparagus, and furry brown tree fern tips that are meant to taste like walnuts but look and feel too much like caterpillars for any great enthusiasm on our part.
























And then, at the end of a long day, we finally arrive at Pyke Lodge, with its dramatic view of Mt Madeline, for a warm welcome by Masa and Renee and a hot shower, There were only 3 showers for the 10 hikers and two guides and I must say that the experienced hikers we were with were in and out in less than five minutes. I was the only one using a hair dryer.









































We had sushi, assorted cheeses for an entrée (entrée is what Kiwis call starters) and wine. Masa and Renee had prepared roasted deer venison loin for dinner with key lime pie for dessert followed shortly by a bunk bed and a peaceful night.




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