The Milford Track is New Zealand's most famous tramping route. It is located in stunning scenery amidst mountains and temperate rain forest in Fiordland National Park in the southwest of the South Island.
Traditionally, Maori used the Milford Track for gathering and transporting valuable greenstone. Sutherland and Mackay were the first European explorers to see Mackay Falls and Sutherland Falls, in 1880.
With Milford Sound never exploited by industrial or agricultural interests, most visitors and investors from early on decided that tourism was to be the main draw to the sound, and the Milford Track was established to a large degree to provide a tourism function for guided treks.
The track spans a distance of 53.5 km starting at the head of Lake Te Anau and finishing at Milford Sound at Sandfly Point. It traverses rainforests, wetlands, and dramatic alpine passes.
As a popular route, it is well maintained by the Department of Conservation and is one of the nine Great Walks. (Full article...)