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The fifth day was the longest hardest day of the tramp and involved crossing our second saddle, the Little Wanganui Saddle at 1087 meters with a steep 300 meters climb first up. I was a tad worried about this long day and this big climb, but the climb up to the saddle was actually surprisingly ok.

The fourth day of the tramp was another short day of only 8.6 kilometers through some lovely South Island beech forest but also through some rough patches.

The morning involved climbing up 200 meters to the top of the saddle and the going was actually quite easy. The saddle is at 1009 meters and stone hunt at just under 800 meters so several hundred meters required uphill over several kilometers.

The second day walking the Wangapeka Track was a nice short day of only 8 kilometers with another 200 meters gentle rise during the day.

The first day of the tramp is an easy 11 kilometre walk with just under 200 meters rise in height while walking alongside the Wangapeka River.Most excitingly within 15 minutes Julianne spotted 5 Whio (Blue Duck). The Whio is a very rare NZ bird, and is unusual for a duck in that it lives in fast flowing rapids such as in the Wangapeka River.

For 2019’s walk I decided to head somewhere much more quieter than a Great Walk and instead the Wangapeka Track near the top of the South Island in the Kahurangi National was choosen. The Wangapeka is a six day tramk which is no longer maintained by DOC and due to a cyclone in 2014 has a number of large rock and tree falls you have to clamber over and around.

The two days after the Milford Track and Routeburn Track were a holiday at the other extreme; from tramping to living it up in Queenstown! Having never been to Queenstown I was blown away by the range of activities on offer, all of which are quite expensive. So first up it had to be the Shotover Jet, one of the oldest and most famous attractions in Queenstown.

The final day of the Routeburn Track involves is a short walk of only 9 kilometers all up about 4 hours walking - all up which is either downhill or flat so it was an easy day.

The third day of the Routeburn Track involved going up over the Harris Saddle.

The day started with low cloud cover and off and on rain – so this the one day on the tramps where the weather did not behave, but I can’t complain as the Milford Track was the more important walk.

People normally do the Routeburn Track over a period of three days, but I decided to take my time and do the walk over four days. This gave me plenty of time to enjoy the lovely beech forest of the South Island and to make the most of the expense getting here. As such the previous day had been a short 2 hour walk to Lake Howden. 

After walking the Milford Track, and relaxing in the lovely Milford Sound for 3 days it was time to start walking the Routeburn Track, another of New Zealand's Great Walks. The Routeburn Track is normally done over 3 days, but I have arranged to do the walk over 4 days, as I have come all the way down to fiordland national park, I wanted to spend more time here. 

Yesterday was a lovely day, with the afternoon and evening spent on the water in Milford Sound, and this morning I get to wake up in our little cabin on the Milford Mariner. Quickly I got dressed and headed up for breakfast as the Milford Mariner starts heading out towards the open sea. 

The third and final night at Milford Sound before our second tramp was not spent in our chalet, but instead on the water with with on the Milford Mariner through Real Journeys. There are whole range of boat trips you can do in the Milford Sound ranging from 1 to 3 hours – but I guarantee nothing beats leaving at 4.30pm, staying overnight and leaving at 9am the following day.

After the Milford Track, the next few days were spent in our glorious standalone riverside chalet at the Milford Lodge.

The fourth day of the Milford Track was a long one, and a ferry to catch at 4pm and an 18 kilometre walk to get there - so we couldn’t be late! 

The third day on the Milford Track is another long day with a 14 kilometre walk, including heading up one side of the Mackinnon Pass and down the other side plus of course I was interested in a side trip to the Sutherland falls, the largest waterfall in NZ.

The first day waking up on the Milford Track was a great feeling even with an early start, as today is a long day at 16.6 kilometres and I like to take it slowly with easy stopping to enjoy the scenery and the wildlife as I walk.

The rare NZ native Blue Duck lives in this valley and I was determined to see one, so any opportunity to look into the Clinton River while walking along involved stopping for a look, so there were many little pauses through the morning.

Milford Track is the most famous and the most popular of New Zealand’s Great Walks and is something I have been wanting to do for a very long time and last year I decided to just do it.

Robin found out a while ago that Paw Patrol was having a live show and he really wanted to see it and as the fates would have it, the date of the Auckland show (just a short drive from my house) was the same weekend that we were going away to the snow. 

But it so happened that Paw Patrol Live was playing in Hamilton the week before, and as Robin was so excited I thought lets go for it; and to take the opportunity to finally visit Hobbiton, which has been so close but I have never got around to visiting it.

The last two days of holiday were a lot more relaxed than the first two, and unlike most of my other holiday’s in the past there were no set plans from here on-wards. First up on Monday morning was to the Woodville information centre on the other side of the Manawatu Gorge to see if we can collect a kiwi ranger badge for Robin, who had completed the required tasks from the booklet several days earlier.