Sometime in 1983, I read an article describing “The Finest Walk in The World, The Milford Track.” Being naive, optimistic and adventurous, I sweet-talked ex-Marine (husband, Steve) into flying to New Zealand…an awfully long way to go…focusing on this 5-day, 4-night, 33 mile walk. I finally found a two-week tour that incorporated the Milford Track and was very inexpensive. Okay, let’s call a spade and spade…it was cheap, cheap, cheap… Why? Read and you shall find out. I said I’m naive…and because it was over 20 years ago, I’m not even going to tell you the name of the tour operator. ( I’m also not going to give information about planning a New Zealand trip until later in this series.)

Made plans, flew Air New Zealand, Chicago-Los Angeles-Auckland, crammed into economy purgatory for who-knows how many hours (at least 18 from Los Angeles), arrived and flew directly to Christchurch, where the tour began. This was a group tour, but most of the people with us in the beginning were only doing the Milford Track portion. Jill, from Perth, Australia, was the only one doing the complete 14-day trip with us and our guide, Morris. It was a surprise to find a tour operator would even run a tour for three people. This tour encompassed the South and North Islands of New Zealand but fixated on the Milford Track, the other visits were just going to be gravy.

New Zealand map

South Island, New Zealand showing the Christchurch area
At that time, Christchurch was a very small, English-type village town in the South Island with little to do but that was fine since we were all but dead from flying. (More about Christchurch later in this series.) Our first “cheap” indication? We were staying in a hostel. That’s wasn’t horrible since it turned out to be a relatively nice hostel. Lots of sleep and the next day our group headed directly towards Queentown.

 

the main area of Christchurch, New Zealand
The U.S. $ was at one of its highs again the New Zealand currency and food was unbelievably inexpensive. A rack of lamb ran around $3.00 a person! With those prices, we started eating like champs with racks of lamb for lunch whenever we had a chance and pigging on on inexpensive food as well. Other than breakfast, food was not included in this tour.

inexpensive food “take out” sign in Christchurch, New Zealand
This adventure had begun…