The Fiordland National Park in New Zealand

Well, I just finished it 2 days ago

Its not bad, it depends on what your experiences are of tramping beforehand. It can be stunning if you havn’t experienced the environment before, and although there might be individual features bettered elsewhere its a great package deal, great scenery, amazing waterfalls, lush vegetation.

Walking on a track with so many others isn’t the greatest, but the track has some highlights and getting no rain over the time is a rare occurrence.

Here is a rough overview of our trip.

http://xmb.stuffucanuse.com/xmb/viewthread.php?tid=5863

Unfortunately, back in the 1980s when New Zealand’s coal mines were closing and unemployment was hovering around 12%, the NZ government decided to make up for lost tax revenue by requiring visitors to the park to purchase hiking permits. As this low period in NZ’s economy coincided with the Japanese economic boom of the 1980s, the permit fees were set with wealthy Japanese tourists in mind.

A one week permit for a single foreign hiker currently costs NZ$10,000,000 – about USD$15,000. A day-hiking permit can be purchased on the black market for about USD$500 in Christchurch.

Also the NZ dollar to the USD is about 60cents to 1USD. So how he got $10Million equalling $15,000 is a joke..

Nice one Adam Stanhope! You’ve won ‘stupid comment of the week’ with that dribble you wrote.

I was on the Doubtful Sound overnight cruise back in 2004. It was so beautiful, silent, pristine… I was actually in tears for a lot of the time. True. It haunts me now; I badly want to go back again.

hey matt / pip et al. .. do you guys get jokes?

Also, if your planned trip to NZ is more than 6 months away and you have already bought some NZ dollars, its a good idea to change them to Zimbabwean dollars until you leave so you don’t lose too much money through inflation.

im a new zealander, and ive been there.

and yes, it is very awesome.

Plan weeks/months even ahead for Milford. Typically I just turned up and there is no chance to walk it. Instead I chose to canoe and camp up Doubtfull Sound (so called because captain cook thought it was doubtfull they could land). The dramatic surroundings are just overwhelmingly cool there. We could hear Kiwi`s through the night while attacked my a gizillion bugs

I’ve been on a kayaking trip through one of the non-Milford fjords. It was a day trip courtesy of a marvelous outfitter in Te Anau. The fjord was reached via a boat ride across a lake, a van-trip over a pass – My little group of kayakers (8 plus guide) were the only people we saw all day. We did see porpoises and penguins and seals, though. It was, seriously, among the most spectacular trips of my life-time.

As far as the Milford track goes, you would need very high tolerance for rain and muck! There really is no dry season there. If you can manage a few days of wet, though, it is spectacularly beautiful.

As for New Zealand – not only is the country of unparalleled beauty, but the people who live there are among the most kind and polite I’ve met anywhere. I deeply love NZ and I’d go back in a moment if I could.

NEW ZEALAND ROCKS!!!

I’ve wanted to go down to New Zealand since Willow came out. =) I hear the landing in Wellington is fun with the wind causing the plane to come in slightly sideways.