Milford Evac

It is still raining by afternoon and the party is now split into two roughly even groups.  Food is redistributed amongst the groups, one group is to be helicoptered up to Mintaro hut to replace those that are being helicoptered either onto Dumpling hut or back to the start of the trail.  And the other group of which I stand in is to hike back out to the start of the trail led by the warden.  Mervin stands in the other group and we bid our farewells, I shall not see him again until Malaysia. 

We wave our goodbyes to each other and the warden leads us out.  We only go as far as ten minutes before we are walking in water.  We arrive at the river and there is no boundary between the river and the trail, the water continues to rise as we continue to tread slowly.  It is cold but not dangerously cold.  Eventually the warden turns us around, it is too risky to continue on foot.  We are to return back to the hut to be helicoptered back to the start of the trek and then catch the boat back to Te Anau Downs, from there a bus will return us to Te Anau and even onto Queenstown if we desire it.

 

The water rises and rises as we attempt to trek out

The party we split from is amused to find us back again so soon.  There is an air of excitement in the air as we are given instructions on how to manage ourselves when the helicopter begins transporting us 5 at a time.  Soon we hear the faint whirr of the approaching chopper which crescendos into a loud thumping as it makes it careful descent on the deck.  It takes several trips between Mintaro, Clinton and the trailhead but eventually only a handful of us remain and then I too am ushered into the chopper.  From the air the landscape looks like a disaster zone, there is water everywhere.  It is only a short ride though and insulting to the amount of effort we expended on foot two days ago. 

The winds are calm enough today for the chopper to fly

We are given to option to stay the night in Te Anau or carry on to Queenstown and I choose to return to Queenstown.  This leaves me one full day in Queenstown before I depart.  Jules is startled to see me return a day early and I relay the events to her supplemented with my camera footage of my little dramatic rescue.  She doesn't buy my story that Mervin got carried away by the strong current though :)