New Zealand 2014

After an early breakfast we left most of our luggage at the hotel and with our day gear on our backs walked to the Ultimate Hikes Center to begin our tramp on the famous Milford Track. The red bags, many are carrying, were provided by Ultimate Hikes, contain a change of clothes and whatever, and will be transported by bus to the Mitre Peak Lodge where will stay on the last night of the trek.
	Ultimate Hikes provided our transportation to the Milford Track trail head. We started on a several hour private bus journey which first followed the extensive shores of Lake Wakatipu on which Queenstown sits.
Lots of sheep and	Red-tailed deer, which are raised for venison.
The Milford Track goes from the northern end of Lake Te Anau to Milford Sound and is in Fjorldand National Park in southwestern South Island.
The bus first brought us to the town of Te Anau where we had lunch. After lunch the bus continued along the shore of Lake Te Anau to Te Anau Downs Harbour where we boarded a ferry to take us to a wharf and the trail head at the end of the lake.

	The track follows the broad valley of the Clinton River.
After a short, less than a mile, easy walk we reached the historic Glade House, where we stayed our 1^st night of the Track.


After checking in to our assigned bunk rooms, we gathered in front for a group photo. The group consisted of 46 trampers from around the world and four guides, Kathryn, Liv, Phoebe, and Tom.
The guides then divided us into four groups and took us on a nature walk on the hillside behind the house. Here Tom shows us a stoat trap. Before humans arrived in New Zealand, native birds had enjoyed millions of years of isolation in an environment free of ground-dwelling, predatory mammals. They were not adapted to defend themselves against the raft of animals that accompanied Polynesian and European settlement. Stoats, a short-tailed weasel, were liberated in New Zealand in the 1880's to control rabbits on pastoral land. Naturalists of the time warned of the dangers that these opportunistic hunters posed to native birds, and sadly their predictions were correct. Today there are efforts being made to eradicate them.
Happy Hour and	Supper.