We've just returned to Auckland and have decent internet, so we'll be posting the rest of the Milford Track and Stewart Island in the next couple of days.

Milford Track day 1 on February 23 We met our fellow travelers in Queenstown and rode a bus to Te Anau followed by a boat ride from TeAnau landing to Glade House dock.

The boat ride to Glade House dock was sunny and beautiful, but we could see that we were heading toward the rain. When we landed, we had to step through some chemicals to make sure we weren’t carrying didymo (rock snot, an invasive alga that clings to rocks and is a big problem in the USA).

From the dock it was a 15 minute walk to Glade House. Our guide Greta led us on a nature walk and identified Gremlin moss (looks like Spanish moss) and bush robins and crown ferns and all sorts of other wonderful plants and birds. The sand flys were hearty and busy. At all the huts, the generator goes off at 10 pm and when it comes on in the morning that is your clue to rise and shine.