Hollyford Track

Which river went up 2m, the Hollyford? Cos jeezus, thats a big river under normal conditions! I would have loved to see what that looked like at the mouth end (though not be caught in the weather bomb in the process!)

The Jet Boat driver had his boats nearly on the front lawn of The Martins Bay Lodge.The boat picked me up at 8.15 am as he had trouble starting it and it was realy dark and still raining cats and dogs. Down past the Lodge the Hollyford river went into rapids right accross the whole river and huge tree trunks were bouncing up and down everywhere,at one stage we had to stop as crap had got into the impeller of the boat. We went round a couple of corners and it got worse as a large log shot accross the bow of the boat and the rapids got worse i was rather concerned now but the driver said we are nearly there.Under normal conditions independent walkers get droped of a couple of kms past the Pyke Lodge but i got droped off on the door step of the Pyke Lodge Woo Hoo. Later the day the Lady from The Pyke Lodge came up to the Alabaster Hut and told us that the Milford rd Was closed from TeAnau Downs to Milford Sound Doh and the rain was still pouring down i will write the next section Alabaster Hut to Gunns Camp when i get home tonight Lindsay

Wow! Sounds incredible. The Pyke Lodge is nowhere near the river if memory serves me right. How did you get from Martins Bay hut to Martins Bay Lodge? At one spot the track drops down off the big sanddunes there to cross a side stream which would be close to the normal level of the Hollyford, I'ld have thought? Oh, and what about Jurusalem Creek where this photo was taken: (http://www.tramper.co.nz/?4298) Was bone dry when I was there but clearly it sees some water in the rain...

Yarmoss you are right Pyke Lodge is about 1km up the enterance to lake Alabaster and Alabaster hut is about 30 minits from there The Jet boat drops walkers of just past the enterance to Lake Alabester on the Hollyford River and guided walkers right at Pyke Lodge.I think i was lucky as the walk on the 5th day to martins Bay Hut was wet but no probs with rivers really but Jurusalam creek was about knee deep i think i know i got wet feet I must get back to work now

Mmm ... Pyke Lodge staff gave me cakes and sandwiches when I was heading up the Pyke. Bad weather had stopped the tourists and they were bored ... Fond memories of food.

madpom I did as well when the Lady came up and told us the milford rd was out she gave us BBQ venison now back to the trip i will have to back track one day on the way to Hokuri Hut. I got to Hokuri Hut and i was the only one there for a while until a guy called Tony arrived he had flown in to martins Bay Lodge the day before and walked to Martins bay then to Hokuri Hut where i was he told me what to expect and i did the same next day he went of to Demon Trail and i went to the top. Ok back to Alabaster hut later that day he arrived and he said a 50m section of the track between Demon Trail and Alabaster hut had been washed into the Hollyford and he had to climb up over and down the missing section and the last walkwire before Alabaster was broken one of the wires you hold onto had broken away from the tree i did the right thing with the boat. Next day we went of to Hidden Falls Hut but we stoped in at the Pyke Lodge to get an update but it was no better but she did one better she got in touch with Ready he runs Gunns camp with his wife and she asked him if he could pick us up the next day at about 12 pm and he said yes she also said there was a metal bridge over Swamp creek that has been washed away several times and hoped it was still there,we thanked her and off we went to Hidden Falls in the pouring rain again. Next day it was still raining we got an early start to make sure we got to the shelter before 12pm.Tony was walking at a fast pace so i let him go ahead we had to climb over huge trees that were blown over on the track all the time or go bush and get coverd in mud in the end that is what we did. We got to swamp creek and the bridge was still there Woo Hoo but the water was very very close to the bottom of it i took a photo of the river from the bridge its on front page of NZ Tramper things look different when they are in flood i got to the end about 11am and still raining what to do so off i walked i got to within 500m of Gunns Camp and the UTE came round the corner Ready said do you wont a ride i no i wont to walk the rest of the way. His wife had coffee and a big lunch waiting and a hot shower.he then got in touch with boss of the road crew who were fixing the road they were good friends and said i have two guys that need to come out so he drove 20kms picked us up and took us all the to TeAnau Downs where Tracknet picked us up and took us buck to TeAnau we got cleaned up walked into town and had several bears at the pub. The next day we went into DOCS and told them about the track and later that day it was closed.I went into Real Journeys as i wonted to do the Milford Sound Trip and said i had just finished the Hollyford and she was i one of the two guys who just got out The whole town new about us we were famous they opned the road the next day and i did the boat trip. I would like to do the Hollford again walk in and walk out the whole way without rain Lindsay I

Final part of Story See Post above

Awesome story, Lindsay. Must have been quite an experience. Thanks for sharing!