After a week in Sydney and a week driving around New Zealand’s South Island, we boarded a bus bound for the Milford Sound. We had so much that we wanted to see and do while we were in the South Pacific, but the main purpose for our trip was to hike the Milford Trail. It’s one of New Zealand’s “Great Walks,” and it’s often referred to as “The World’s Finest Walk.” And for good reason. Our five days on the trail were the best part of any trip we’ve ever taken. We got to see beautiful scenery, enjoy the sounds and sights of wildlife and spend a few days totally apart from technology and work and all the other pressures of modern life.

You can walk the Milford Trail by yourself, but you have to register way in advance. You can also do it all in one day if you’re incredibly ambitious. But we chose to go through Ultimate Hikes, and it was the best decision. We were with a group of about 30 people, and one of the great gifts of the trail was meeting so many fascinating people from around the world. Most of our group was from Australia and New Zealand, but there were also groups from Europe and Southeast Asia.

The hike is set up to stop at one of four lodges every night. And it really felt like glamping. Each night when you arrived at the lodge, there were snacks waiting for you. At night, we were fed three-course meals, and in the morning there was a hot breakfast and a station to pack your lunches. There were even hot showers! You can stay in communal rooms, but David and I chose to have our own room each night, which was really nice.

Although you can complete the day’s hikes in three or four hours easily, David and I chose to go more slowly. We stopped to see birds along the side of the path, or to swim in streams or to jump off waterfalls. I even took an “ice bath” in the pool of the tallest waterfall on the south island.

The hardest day of hiking is the second-to-last, when you climb up 2,200 feet to MacKinnon Pass, the highest point on the trail, and then back down in the same day. The tour recommends that you bring walking sticks, and we were glad that we did. The only negative part about the entire experience was the sandflies. As long as you’re walking, these little buggers won’t bite you. But if you do get a bite, it’ll itch for days.

But considering all the other beauty we experienced on the trail, a few bug bites were no big deal. We had so much great time for talking with each other, and for making new friends, and of course for seeing a unique part of the world that not many people go to. It was the perfect cap to the trip of a lifetime for us.