Arriving in Te Anau at NZlands largest Lake. Making plans for a bit Hiking in the Fiordland and buying all the missing outdoor equipment. Expensive!!

Back in civilisation! After leaving Te Anau we did a couple short and daywalk on the road to Milford Sound with nice views over the Hollyford valley through which we walked later on. The best of the short walk was the Gertrude Saddle of which one had spectacular views over the broad valleys till Milford Sound. Actually more impressive than being down there..
At the 8th we begun our journey through the Hollyford Valley. We planned 8 days and needed 8 (5 days in/3 out). But only because we walked 40km the last day. But then we were pretty used to our backpacks and the most of the food (and especially the heavy stuff) was eaten by now. We tried to camp the first night but Sandflys took terms with Mosquitos and Possums so we escaped to the hut at some point to get some sleep.
Met some nice (german) guys at Demons Hut after a very short 2h hiking day - dried our stuff first, after getting wet to the bones the day before. Luckily that was the only day where it rained while we walked. Pretty lucky for being in Fiordland (8700mm rain anually).
Tramped ~5 hours per day, some tracks were pretty hard going up and down all the way over rocks and roots, but the sourrounding was beautiful and we relaxed playing cards in the evenings! One day after having a swim, sitting at the beach, we saw three dolphins surfacing two meters next to us. And that at one of only two lakes in the world where you can see saltwater dolphins in freshwater lakes! [The Hollyford valley was at some point a sound until mud and stuff created lake McKerrow]
The view at Martins bay was lovely, as was the seal colony. The way back was easier, had company of some older kiwis going hunting and fishing.
It was definitely a great experience, had much fun, met nice people, and we walked ~120km+ in total!
Now back in Te Anau we'll have couple days rest :-)