Faith or Foolishness in New Zealand

Alan Linford

Angie and I at Mrlford Sound found that the Milford Trail was restricted to one way traffic, we were at the wrong end and you have to make a reservation! Where can we get a boat to cross the sound and climb Mitre Peak? – You cannot, for this you need a helicopter and a guide, We beat a hasty retreat to HoUyford, a small settlement 10 km north of The Divide with a new objective to reach a hut above Moraine Creek and attempt The Twins, a peak of 1867m.

The Hollyford valley is deep, heavily forested, reaches from the Divide to the West Coast and provides the start of the Hollyford and Routeburn Trails. On the way up the valley we gave a lift to two lads and dropped them off at a camp site, whilst we pushed on a few kilometres up the valley and found a park for the campervan about 3 km from the start of the Hollyford trail. A quick reconnoitre was essential to find the start of the trail up Moraine Creek and more important the bridges across the Hollyford River and the Creek since fording is impossible. We were overtaken by a battered mini van, which surprised us, but even more amazed when we came across the van, at the end of the track, and the driver erecting a Dipole aerial. We were 25 km from the nearest road. What was it all about I asked, “I’am checking on my deer” said Lewis.

Lewis was a deer hunter, deep in the forest he had corralled deer, fitted then with transmitters and, using his aerial and observing the response on his oscilloscope he could tell if his deer were stressed. Just the man to direct us to the Moraine track. Well it was there, but very faint and he would advise us against an attempt alone, especially since the hut was unusable.

So we opted for the Hollyford trail, the least popular of the trails in the Fiordland National Park. Away early along a trail through mainly sub¬tropical forest. Fly catchers were busy round our heads as we came upon hidden creek falls and then went into the hut for a brew. Surprise; in occupation were the two lads we gave a lift to yesterday. How had they passed us? They had had a lift up river by jet boat. By now we had had enough to damp jungles and decided to return and head for the open hills, when in walked Lewis, the jet boat skipper. Would we like a trip down the river in his boat? The river was only half a mile away and we would soon be back. We set off for the river. After a while Lewis disappeared into the jungle and returned with a rifle, collected from a dump of his, and before we reached the river repeated the process, arriving with another rifle from another dump. Eventually we reached the river, gear and guns handed down into the boat. At this time we had not taken stock of our position. The two lads knew where we were but not who we were and they were off into the wilderness.

The campervan might be found, eventually, nobody knew where we were and here we were in dense forest on a fast flowing river with an armed man we had just met.

The trip down river was exhilarating, under or over huge trees fallen over deep pools and shallow gravel beds round boulders all at high speed, swinging left and right. A stop for Lewis to dash off into the forest to check his deer whilst we minded the boat.

Another exhilarating ride with expert handling and we were soon at his boat ramp. The ramp, needed to lift the boat several metres to make sure that it was above flood level, was made from timber and it’s winch driven by a Qualcast Lawnmower engine. By dusk we were back in the rain and over a brew we realised that we had taken a risk in accepting the trip. It was a good day out. Our faith in human nature and judgement in first impressions were right but were they justified?