Day 13: Dumpling Hut to Sandfly Point

Day four was our last day on the track.  We lucked out once again ... NO RAIN!  Wow!  Don't know what to think about that, but I felt like we might have needed to by a lottery ticket with that kind of luck.  The good news about day four is that it was mostly flat.  The bad news was that we had 11 more miles to hike.  These people really don't believe in short days.  And the other bad news, the sand-fly population had increased dramatically overnight and these little beasts were out for blood, literally.

So today was a big picture fest for me.  Had to do everything I could to somehow capture the majesty of everything around me ... the camera is just not good enough, but I tried anyway.

One of the important things about day four is to time your hike properly.  You don't want to get to Sandfly Point too early and have to hang out with the flying fleas until the ferry arrives to take you across the sound.  We did our first three miles in just around an hour.  That's pretty fast for us.  After I had felt that I had my cardio for the day, I decided to slow my pace.  Surly didn't want to arrive at Sandfly Point too soon. 

Much of our tramp on day four took us through soggy, swampy type land.  We also saw our first "brown" body of water that wasn't pristine and perfectly clear.  Today also brought us over a myriad of swing bridges (fun, fun, fun) and to my favorite waterfall. 

We also jumped under bell rock (very cool, as we could climb inside).  Our last stop was an aptly named Sandfly Point where we took the ferry across Milford Sound. 

Once again, everything was spectacular and amazing.  I've never been anywhere as beautiful as this.  The Milford Track definitely deserves it's reputation as the world's greatest walk.

Following our ferry ride, we took the bus back to Te Anau Downs to retrieve our car and then on to Bev's to return our hiking gear.  Lastly, we made a much deserved trip to the local market to stock up on beer before we headed back to Queenstown for our last night there.

Upon arrival in Queenstown, we all took much needed showers (you can imagine the BO after 4 days unbathed!) and had these HUGE burgers for dinner from a place called Ferg Burger.  Way too much food, but yummy, especially coming away from four days in the woods!