1 I'm Kevin Biggar. And I'm Jamie Fitzgerald. Over the past 10 years, we've taken on some of the world's toughest adventures, from rowing across the Atlantic... That's the problem with this seat we've been having. ...to walking unaided to the South Pole. Whoo-hoo! Now we have a new challenge ` to relive the epic journeys of NZ's early explorers. I will bloody do this thing. We'll be taking on some of the toughest terrain this country has to offer, from the hanging valleys of Fiordland to the treacherous seas of the Open Bay Islands. Each week, we'll retrace the hardest parts of pioneering NZ expeditions. It is so worth it. But we're not only following in their footsteps; we'll be experiencing some of the same conditions and dangers the original adventurers faced ` wearing the same clothing and footwear, trying the same food and using the same equipment. 'This week,...' You should be fine. '...we take on we take on Grave and Talbot's unbelievable first crossing of Fiordland's Darran Mountains.' Oh, wow. Oh, you can see an awful lot from here. 'We'll pit ourselves against the steepest walls of granite in the country.' You coming? 'We'll push ourselves and get inside the explorers' heads...' (GRUNTS) '...to show you what happened 'when they took on one of the most remote and unforgiving landscapes in the world; 'to reveal just how incredible Grave and Talbot's first crossing actually was.' (GRUNTS) Copyright TVNZ Access Services 2012 We're in the South Island of NZ, in one of the most dramatic alpine environments the world has to offer ` Fiordland's colossal Darran Mountains. DRAMATIC MUSIC This is one of the few places on Earth where mountains rise up so steeply, and it's here you'll find the highest waterfall and the deepest lake in the country. The Milford Sound in Fiordland was described by Rudyard Kipling as the eighth wonder of the world. The Milford Track, opened in 1888, was proving to be a huge visitor drawcard. By the early 1900s, the Tourist Department was looking for an alternative route out of Milford to provide travellers with a round trip, but finding that pass would prove difficult. It's easy to see why this was one of the last places in NZ to be explored and why trampers still lose their lives here. The northern end of Milford Sound was cut off by the Darran Mountains ` a seemingly impenetrable 2500m wall of vertical granite. The first surveyors quickly concluded that a route over the peaks was impossible and proposed a tunnel, but explorers still tried ` and died trying ` to find a pass. The Tourist Department, however, was desperate to find a way over, so asked climbers William Grave and Arthur Talbot to search for a route. They weren't surveyors. They weren't alpine guides. They were school teachers from Oamaru. SLOW PIANO MUSIC For three straight summers, Grave and Talbot led expeditions to search the valley and cliff faces for a viable route over the 2700m-tall Darran Mountains. To make sure they were fit for their time in the mountains, they'd cycle from Oamaru to Lake Te Anau ` that's 400 K's on shoddy bikes and a gravel road. These three expeditions failed, but they weren't wasted time. Slowly, the adventurers filled in the missing pieces on the Fiordland map. Rivers, valleys and peaks were all discovered and named, but still, a pass across the Darrans to Milford eluded them. Then, in late 1910, they set off to try a new route. This one would test them to their limit. SLOW PIANO MUSIC Every year, they bought teaching colleagues and students to act as support crew. They explored both the Milford side and the Hollyford side, but always, the Darran Mountains stood as an impassable barrier. Shake. Shake. Cheers, Alan. Thanks very much. Thanks, mate. So, uh, let's see what you take when you're coming to explore one of the last unexplored pieces on Earth and it's the early 1900s. Well, what do you think of the packs? Oh, yeah, the packs are not those leather swags. So, I mean, a real example of the evolution of the gear over time, right? Jacket. Oh, some wet-weather gear. That makes sense. That makes sense. You've come to the wettest place on Earth. An oilskin sleeping bag. I've got my natty trousers, because remember Grave and Talbot were both schoolteachers ` mild-mannered schoolteachers during the year, but exploring superheroes every Christmas. Speaking of superheroes, uh, are these garters? I think they are. I think they keep your socks up. I think they are. I think they keep your socks up. (LAUGHS) Not for your arms, mate; for your legs. I'm gonna feel` I'm gonna feel like a dancer off Flashdance. I'm gonna feel` I'm gonna feel like a dancer off Flashdance. (CHUCKLES) We'll be relying on our old-school clothing to keep us warm as we tramp and climb high above the snowline. (CHUCKLES) You look like you've escaped from the von Trapps. Yeah, I'll show you a few dance moves if you want. Yeah, I'll show you a few dance moves if you want. (LAUGHS) So, hey, mate, Fiordland ` how do you feel about this one? I'm looking forward to it. I've only been in Fiordland once and never been off the track. I've never been to Fiordland at all, and from what I've seen already, really really looking forward to this trip. MAJESTIC MUSIC We'll do our best to follow Grave and Talbot's original route as detailed in their journals. Their plan was the same each year. They would walk the foot of the Darran Mountains, searching for a way up. For Grave and Talbot, this is when the adventure really started. This is the Hollyford River, and it acts as a boundary into Fiordland. It drains a lot of the water off the south-eastern side of the Darran Mountains, and for the party, this is when the known area ended and the unknown began. It's a typical high-country river. The water is a chilly 4 degrees, and the flow is dangerously deceptive. We're going to cross just upriver from some serious rapids. If Grave and Talbot lost their footing, they would have little chance of escaping the current before they were swept into the white water. The water level's pretty good now, but with all this rain, we better start if you want to get across. We'll attempt to cross the river using the same method as Grave and Talbot. Actually, come to think of it, it's Jamie-sized, so I better make it a bit bigger. Uh, what I'll do is I'll just try and make an angle slightly down` down current. We're tied together with a long piece of rope. I'll stay on the bank as an anchor while Jamie crosses. If he loses his footing, the rope should pendulum him back against the river bank. Give me some slack! The swiftest part of the river is near us. Jamie can lean against the rope for added support. Yeah. Yeah. OK. Now it's Kevin's turn. The rain is making it much more difficult, and the water level is rising quickly. Awesome, mate. Kevin has definitely drawn the short straw. I could lean against the tight rope for support, but for Kevin, it offers no help at all. Yep. It's not long before he loses his footing and the pendulum rope method is put to the test. 'Take your time, mate!' It's quite deep, eh? Yeah. Nice work. Good work. That'll do. William Grave and Arthur Talbot's rope technique proves to be a winner. PEACEFUL MUSIC There was a reason Fiordland was one of the last places in NZ to be explored. Nothing here is gentle. The weather, the mountains, the rivers ` all are full of danger. The rain's just started to ease off now, and as the mist is rising up, you can see that the- the valley sides have come alive with waterfalls. So pretty; as if it's some sort of lost world. A dinosaur could fly around the corner and it wouldn't look out of place. Seven of the world's 100 highest waterfalls are in Fiordland. From down here, they simply vanish into the sky. (CHUCKLES) Wow. The way that this place can transform itself from one landscape to another ` it takes your breath away. And it must have been the beauty that kept Grave and Talbot coming back, because year after year, they would spend months trudging up and down the valley, looking for any way that they could get over the top into Milford, and, uh, time and time again, they were turned back by these massive walls of rock. You know, there was no reason for them to be disappointed. In over 100 years since their trips, still no one's climbed this face. PEACEFUL MUSIC As we make our way along the foot of the mountains, the terrain changes. Grave and Talbot named this place Moraine Creek. Thousands of years ago, this would have been covered in ice, with the glacier rumbling its way through. But as the ice has disappeared, the rocks have all remained, and we've gotta try and find our way. For the two weeks they were exploring here, it rained on 13 days. I think that was a good thing, because they couldn't see that they were ringed by these incredible walls of rock. All they could do was keep plodding on toward the top of the valley, where they hoped there would be a pass. SLOW, GRAND ORCHESTRAL MUSIC Making progress through this huge moraine field of glacial debris and boulders is extremely difficult. Yeah, I think the way through is going to be down through that hole. Yeah, I think the way through is going to be down through that hole. Yeah. Go and check it out. As Grave and Talbot searched for a route, it sometimes took them underneath the boulders. SOTTO VOCE: It's good to send the little fellow down. Does it open up a fair bit? Does it open up a fair bit? I wouldn't say a lot, but we can get through. It's a tight squeeze, especially when you're Jamie's size. The view might not be very impressive, but it's certainly safer than leaping from one huge rock to another. Lets a bit of rain in here ` don't think you wanna camp. We travel almost 100m underneath the massive boulders before we reach a dead end. You all right? Do you want a leg up? On my shoulder. Yep. Finding a way in is one thing; getting out is a whole different ball game. Because some things take time to learn, we made hand-washing easy with the Dettol No Touch Handwash System. It senses hands automatically and kills 99.9% of germs. Dettol Mission for Health. Get your hands on the limited-edition Dettol Ice Age 4 No Touch with the cinema release of Ice Age 4: Continental Drift. And with every limited-edition product you buy, receive a bonus movie ticket for kids. Hurry. Don't miss out. We're in the Milford Sound, retracing the 1910 journey of explorers William Grave and Arthur Talbot as they searched for a pass across the Darran mountains. Does it open up a fair bit? Does it open up a fair bit? Oh, yeah, it's massive (!) We're in a cave under a boulder field, but Jamie's finding the way out a little too tight for comfort. This is what being born must feel like. You're like an eel. Good job. Wasn't so bad. Yeah. Yeah. It's like a game of Tetris. Yeah. It's like a game of Tetris. (CHUCKLES) SLOW PIANO MUSIC In the late afternoon, the cloud lifts and we get our first close-up look at the vertical rock face of the western end of the Darran Mountains. Oh, wow. Look at that. It's amazing. We've seen some amazing things in our time, but that is just fantastic. If Grave and Talbot had had any sense, they would have just turned around and gone home. What they did was freak out and realise that their only option was to try their luck by turning right and heading further up the valley. SLOW PIANO MUSIC FIRE CRACKLES Well, I'm pretty beat. Well, I'm pretty beat. Yeah. It was a tough, tough day. The weather keeps changing around a fair bit. We've had pretty good weather, though. Can you imagine coming here when it's been pouring with rain and then it snows? That's just what Grave and Talbot had. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They were such tough guys. (CHUCKLES) You look out here, though... It's closing in now, eh? It's closing in now, eh? Might get pretty miserable tonight. It's closing in now, eh? Might get pretty miserable tonight. Yeah. How dry do you think you're gonna keep? Got my oilskin bag. Got my oilskin bag. (CHUCKLES) Slight change of plan. Yeah. We had a tent. It was going OK, but, uh, we're a few hours into the night now, and it's started to rain, and the wind shifted around a little bit. And it just started coming in quite a bit to where our head` heads were, which isn't ideal, and you just get` you get cold really quickly. So we've made a shift. We've` We've had a quick pack-up. It's not as luxurious, or it's not a` a tent. It's probably more` It's more a fly. It's more half a tent. It's more half a tent. Yeah, it's half a tent. Um, it's` it's gone from the Hilton to Formula 1. (CHUCKLES) It's pretty uncomfortable sleeping out. Got rocks underneath us; there's rain on our little blanket tent. But, you know, this is the bit that I feel like we're closest to the guys. Yeah, it just goes to show the passion they had for the outdoors and how much they loved just coming up here and have a jolly old good time. Yeah. They must have really loved it. I mean, but` They kept coming back year after year` They kept coming back year after year` ...year after year for 30 years. But it's the thrill of exploring. I love that too. Imagine if there was a space in the country that no one had ever been to. You'd be there like a rat up a drain pipe, wouldn't you? That's fantastic. Well, that's Antarctica, isn't it? Well, that's Antarctica, isn't it? I suppose so. I suppose so. SLOW PIANO MUSIC So, we had a bit of everything last night ` the rain started to come, the wind blew, but then it stopped around 2.30 and the clouds opened up and the full moon came out. It was just spectacular. And once the sun came up this morning, came out and had a look, and I realised just how spectacular the place was. It's gotta be one of the best views from a hotel room I've ever had. SOARING ORCHESTRAL MUSIC The explorers believed this valley was the best chance at a clear-cut pass to Milford. Because the mountain is so steep, it's only few hundred metres as the crow flies to the valley on the other side, and then only a few short kilometres to Milford Sound itself. Oh, wow. It looks a bit like Superman's North Pole lair, but it's a bit of avalanche debris from the winter that somehow managed to last until almost the end of summer. It's melting pretty fast. I think there's a short cut through here. It's early in the day. I think we will be all right. Yeah. The reflected sun from the water highlights the unusual scalloping on the roof. It's like a giant cathedral of ice. Oh, look at the colours. The light coming through there looks like a` the roof of a 1970s disco. (CHUCKLES) Wow. It appears to be a short distance to the base of the cliff, but the sheer scale of the place means that you lose all perspective. What we think will take only five minutes actually takes us well over an hour. As the party made their way up Lake Adelaide, they would have been staring at all of this knowing that it's what they had to get across to get to Milford. Problem is you look at some of these mountains ` it's over a thousand vertical metres; a kilometre straight up. So they decided to head right towards the top of the valley here` towards that wall of rock. And as tough as it looks to climb, you can see that it's still the best option they had. Some of the party started climbing up, but for three hours they could only make 50m or 60m. But then, someone they had left at the bottom was watching the way the sun was passing across the cracks on the rock face, and as it got towards the end of the day, they could see there was an easier route on the left-hand side. So he called the` the two of them back, and then all three of them took off to try and get to the very top of the saddle. What was his technique for calling them back? 'Cooee.' 'Cooee.' (LAUGHS) When we finally reached the rock face, the enormity of our task began to hit home. Oh yeah. By the time they got here, their party could check out the route for the first time, and they could see that although it was steep, it was still a big improvement from what they were trying to climb over there. I think I'll go first. I think I'll go first. You can be my guest. Why's that? Because if you fall, I don't want you to land on top of me. This is Gifford's Crack ` the route Grave and Talbot believed would lead them to the top of the saddle. You all right? You all right? Yeah. It's daunting, but climbable. It's one thing to climb. It's another not to send rocks down on to Jamie. (PANTS) The granite rock offers many finger and toe holds and, more importantly, ledges we can use as staging points. Yep. Yep. K? Yep. K? Yep. Have you got a decent stance? Have you got a decent stance? Not bad. I tell you what's spooky ` the thought of all of Jamie's weight hanging off the end of this rope. Gotta make sure my stance is really solid. OK! Here he comes. Early climbers used their own body weight as anchors, but if your partner slipped, they'd have little chance of being able to save them. In fact, they were most likely to both fall to their deaths. For climbers of this era, being roped together offered a feeling of psychological safety, rather then genuine protection. Little wonder the first rule of mountaineering in the early days was 'don't fall'. Oh, good work. (PANTS) Good one. Yeah, it's not so bad. Yeah, it's not so bad. This old granite ` it's pretty good, but you just get the odd one... Sometimes, yeah, you pull on a rock, and then it, uh, starts to wiggle a bit. All right. Next pitch ` let's go. It's three separate pitches to the top, and while the going is easy, the key is to climb on the right piece of rock. I think we're nearly at the top. I think we're nearly at the top. Yep. Recently, an Australian climber died on this cliff while ascending in bad weather. He only missed the route by a few metres, but that was enough, and he fell to his death. Almost there. The weather today is much better, and we're feeling confident. But the mountain is about to remind us to take nothing for granted. Oh. Oh. The ice. Wow. No way. Do you think there's any ice up above? Like any family man, I like my toilet time. I also like my toilet clean. So I use Harpic White & Shine. Its improved thick formula has five times power action, and the bleach and baking soda,... and the bleach and baking soda,... ANGELS SING and the bleach and baking soda,... ANGELS SING well, it kills 99.99% of germs, with a delightful... (SNIFFS) fresh scent. Excuse me. Harpic White & Shine, with five times power action. Like a new loo every time. We're in Fiordland, retracing the 1910 journey of explorers William Grave and Arthur Talbot. They were attempting to find a pass that could be used by tourists across the Darran Mountains. I think we're nearly at the top. I think we're nearly at the top. Yeah. It's the hottest part of the day ` the worst time to be on a mountain, as the heat loosens the ice and snow. Oh. Oh. The ice. Wow. Do you think there's any ice up above? Crikey. Avalanches are the leading cause of death in the mountains. It's a reminder that we need to move quickly. The last pitch is much easier, and it's a gentle climb to the top of the saddle. Oh, look at that. Check it out. Amazing. You can see right down into Milford. Oh, that was so worth it. That is so worth it! (SIGHS DEEPLY) The water appears close, and it is just 10km away. (SIGHS HEAVILY) Oh, wow. You know, that Mitre Peak over there is on every postcard that comes out of Milford Sound, but I bet very few of them are from this point of view. For Talbot and Grave, this view was maddening, because they could see Milford right there. The only thing was between them and Milford were these horrendous cliffs. Finding a way down the Milford side of the Darrans would not be easy. Grave and Talbot traversed the ridge looking for likely paths to the valley floor. At a height of 2000m, these terraces just below the ridge have an eerie Moon-like appearance. Grave and Talbot searched long and hard, but could not find a path down the Milford side. Try and avoid the moss. Try and avoid the moss. Yeah. Finally, they gave up. They were forced to lower themselves back down the side they'd come up and start again. Once you get yourself over the edge, it's all me. You good with your stance? You good with your stance? Bloody good. Bulletproof. We've abseiled plenty of times before, but doing it above the clouds is a bizarre experience. (GROANS) OK. A little bit more. But the danger comes into sharp focus when the cloud clears and we can see the bottom of the valley. I'm lowering Jamie down using the same method Grave and Talbot would have used. It's safe enough, but very uncomfortable. There a little` I think` I think there's a ledge,... OK. OK. ...but it's in` it's under the rock. Hold on. Can you try and swing in? Can you try and swing in? Yeah. (GRUNTS, STRAINS) Yep. That'll do. There's a place over here that I'll be able to put an anchor into. Now it's Kevin's turn. Gotta look on the bright side. This could be worse. Grave and Talbot could have been base jumpers. With no one to lower Grave, he used a classic abseil method. The rope is wrapped around your shoulder and leg using friction to slow yourself down. OK. Where do you want me to swing in? Can you see where it cuts in? Can you see where it cuts in? A little bit. Off to the right, maybe. Yeah. There's a` I'm around the corner, but you'll see a couple of ledges. It's where the flowers are. All right! Whoo-hoo! Awesome, mate. Hey, hey. Nice. Nice. Textbook. (LAUGHS) (LAUGHS) That's brilliant. (LAUGHS) That's brilliant. Good job. Once Grave and Talbot returned to the bottom, they worked their way along the base of the Darrans looking for another way up. But even lower down, there were obstacles. We're travelling through a forest of trees that's been wiped out by a massive winter avalanche. But the funny thing is the avalanche never reached here. As thousands of tons of snow were pushed down the mountain, the air in front of it was forced down the valley, and the shock wave would have just wiped out all these trees. It's incredible. It's so damp here that the trees are still growing. It's like battling your way through some enchanted fairy-tale forest. Grave and Talbot passed through an area just like this on the way up the valley. They said they had to swing like monkeys to get through, so they called it Monkey Creek. (GRUNTS) It's just another reminder that Fiordland is not for the faint-hearted. The explorers worked their way east along the range looking for another way up, but they were constantly challenged as vertical rock and towering waterfalls blocked their path. Eventually, they came to a valley that had previously been surveyed. Although it offered a route to the top of the Darrans via the Homer Saddle, there was no way down to the other side to Milford. Grave and Talbot decided they would climb to the top of the saddle and explore more fully. (GROANS) What's it like? Prepare yourself. (LAUGHS) Oh, Homer Saddle. (SIGHS) That's unbelievable. It's a sheer drop of around 600m on the Milford side. The twisting line below is the modern two-lane highway into Milford. In 1889, a young surveyor called Quill came up here to try and find a pass ` the route down to Milford. He was a very good climber. He'd proven himself climbing the Sutherland Falls, and that's highest waterfalls in the world. Yet, when he came here, he saw that it would be nuts to try and climb down the other side. He went back to camp. He left a note saying he was going to try another ridge, and that was the last anyone ever heard of him. 20 years later, Grave and Talbot reached this point too, and, incredibly, they tried to make their way straight down, but they only made 150ft off the edge. What they ended up doing was making their way up the ridge, and, as hard as it looks, it had to be a whole lot easier then over the edge. DRAMATIC MUSIC Grave and Talbot inched their way along the ridge, naming the route Talbot's ladder. Travelling slow and making sure of each foothold is the only way to ascend this section. Grave described the first few hundred yards of the track as 'not too easy'. I guess that's how they described things a hundred years ago. DRAMATIC MUSIC I just need some more slack. The more experienced climber usually goes first. Are you OK? Are you OK? Yep. (PANTS) That meant that Grave always led the way. Another 2m. Not... Kevin's the better climber and will take the lead here. Once he's made it to the top, he'll belay me up. Yep. This is good. You should be fine. Just wait until I get some slack up. K. PANTS: That's it. Good work. Good work. Blimey. Good work. Blimey. What about that view, eh? Oh, wow. Oh, you can see an awful lot from here. The rest of the route traverses the ridge, but that doesn't mean it gets any less dangerous. There was one point that they found that was dangerously steep on both sides. They called it a razorback, but it's not my back I'm worried about... OK. (GROANS) OK. OK. (GROANS) Just take it slow, mate. Oh God. DRAMATIC MUSIC Oh, my throat. If your sore throat needs warming comfort,... ...try Strepsils Warm. It has a special formulation with proven antibacterial action and a gentle warming sensation. Ah. Ooh. Ooh. (GIGGLES) Wrap up with Strepsils Warm. Now a blocked nose can also be relieved with the menthol vapours of Strepsils Sore Throat and Blocked Nose. POP! DRAMATIC MUSIC We're retracing the 1910 journey of explorers William Grave and Arthur Talbot as they attempted to find a pass across the Darran Mountains in Fiordland. OK. (GROANS). OK. We've found ourselves straddling a razorback. You coming? It's around 1000m straight down on either side. Now, Jamie, if you fall down the left-hand side, I'll fall down the right. (CHUCKLES) Oh God. Oh God. We'll be fine (!) Oh God. We'll be fine (!) Let's not focus on it. It's easy to see that if you took the mountains too lightly, you'd not make it out alive. (GRUNTS) Eventually, the rock flattens out and we can walk the rest of the way. Great work. Great work. Yeah. (PANTS) It's not my ideal way to travel. After traversing the ridge for an hour, we find the aim of Grave and Talbot's epic quest. (CHUCKLES) Kev. Kev, look at that. Kev, look at that. Is this it? Kev, look at that. Is this it? (CHUCKLES) Oh, wow. Look at that. Oh, what a success for them. After three years of searching, Grave and Talbot finally found the route down the other side of the valley. The difference was` this time, after all the failed attempts, the genius was that the route down wasn't on the same place as the route up. This time they came up to the saddle, traversed along for a bit, then they found what they thought was the way down. Imagine how happy they were when they reached this point. Once they arrived, all they believed they needed to do was to shimmy their way down to the bottom of the valley. They believed they recognised the point because they'd been exploring there two years earlier. Once they got to the bottom, all they thought all they'd need to do is get around the valley to Milford. Easy as that. Easy as that. They must have been over the moon. The first section is a gentle scramble down, but, as with everything in Fiordland, it's not that simple. The mountains were setting Grave and Talbot up for one last test of courage. Until now, Grave and Talbot would have been thrilled with the way things have been going ` it's been an easy descent over grassy, scrubby slabs ` until it got to this point. Once again they would need to lower themselves, but this time there was no rock they could tie a rope to. They would need to find something else. The only option they had was snow tussock. So what they did was use a bit of old string ` and when they ran out of string, they used the lace from their boots ` tied it into a loop and then, uh, looped the rope around that. What do you think, Jamie? This came off mine earlier, so I'll let you use it. But I can guarantee... I want you to be an anchor first, before we test this for real. I think there's a kea over there. You know what they're like. Once you tie that rope` Once you've tied the bootlace around the tussock, I hope he doesn't come over and pinch it. I hope he doesn't come over and pinch it. That's right. DRAMATIC MUSIC So, you put that around here, mate. Grave and Talbot said there was no risk of the tussock coming out. The risk was the, uh... the string slipping off. I reckon we do that and then we twist it over. When Grave and Talbot were doing this all the way down the hill, of course, they only had so much bootlace. There might have been a time that they wished they were a centipede. There might have been a time that they wished they were a centipede. (LAUGHS) I think that's worth a crack. DRAMATIC MUSIC It's a 100m drop to the next ledge, and I'm relying on a clump of grass to hold me. Just keep leaning back. Just keep leaning back. Well, I'm not supposed to be here, right? This is a test. DRAMATIC MUSIC SNAP! SNAP! Oh! (LAUGHS) Fellas! Oh! Danny C! Nonu, Nonu, Nonu! Boom! Richie. Register and use your MasterCard before September 15 and you could go on tour with the All Blacks. Yeah, mate. Yeah, mate. So, who am I rooming with? Explorers William Grave and Arthur Talbot were charged with trying to find a pass over the Darren Mountains that could be used by Fiordland tourists. Oh, that was so worth it. We are retracing their 1910 adventure to find that route. We've faced flooded rivers,... Yep! ...caves of ice,... Oh, look at the colours. Oh, look at the colours. Wow. ...and sheer vertical slabs of rock. All right! (CHEERS) I think that's worth a crack. Now we're trying to lower ourselves off a ledge using just alpine grass for an anchor point, as Grave and Talbot had done. SNAP! SNAP! Oh! (LAUGHS) (SIGHS) (SIGHS) Are you all right? (SIGHS) Are you all right? Yeah. Your rope just took all the grass out. Your rope just took all the grass out. Far out. (PANTS) Let's take a look at this. Oh yeah. It's just too high, isn't it? Just sheared through the grass completely. I'll tell you what. Those guys ` they were pretty brave. Braver than me. (CHUCKLES) Probably about 50 kilos lighter, as well. Probably about 50 kilos lighter, as well. (CHUCKLES) We've pushed our luck on this journey, but using the tussock to lower ourselves is a bridge too far. Grave and Talbot found themselves running out of light and had used the grass technique as a last resort. We still have plenty of daylight, so we'll work our way further along the slope to find a point where we can abseil using a rock as an anchor. Get a bit lower, and I'll pull you over. The explorers worked their way down the mountain and planned to follow the Cleddau River all the way to Milford Sound. From high above in the Darrans, it seemed a simple route. But the river was to offer surprises of its own. Wow, check it out. That's incredible. (LAUGHS) Far out. All the force of the river is channelled through these narrow walls of rock. It's blasting out like a fire hose. These round caves down here ` they've been caused by balls of rock being whizzed around by the water and scouring them out, like a marble inside a washing machine. In all of Grave and Talbot's travels, they'd never come across a cascade as stunning as this. They named it the Chasm. We've found a point where we can propel into the water. Once we're there, we're gonna swim our way out. DRAMATIC MUSIC As Kevin gets nearer the white water, he makes a surprising discovery. The noise from the waterfall is deafening, and it's impossible to communicate with me. With the rope cutting him in half, he needs to get out fast. (GASPS) Now it's Jamie's turn to descend into the chasm. You got the rope. Good work. How was the abseil? How was the abseil? (PANTS) That cut me in half. (LAUGHS) And the water's so cold. Yeah. As we make our way to the coast, the bush finally begins to thin out. After eight gruelling days, it's like a walk in the park. Yes! Oh yeah. Suddenly, the finish line is in sight. We made it. We made it. Whoo-hoo! Good job, buddy. Good job, buddy. Brilliant. It took them three years, but on the 7th of January 1910, Grave and Talbot finally found the direct route all the way to here in Milford. For years and years, there had only been two ways to get here ` either by sea or down the Milford Track ` and now there was a third: the Grave-Talbot Pass. SLOW MUSIC The discovery of the route was met with great excitement by the government Tourist Department. They believed that visitors could walk in via the Milford Track, then out again down the Grave-Talbot Pass. Over the next few years, the government sent work parties to make the pass more manageable and build huts along the way. But despite these efforts, the route remains so difficult that only serious climbers can attempt the crossing. It proved, once and for all, that the only way to travel the Darrans safely was to tunnel under it. So, in 1935, work began in the Homer Tunnel, which travels directly under the Grave-Talbot Pass. I was really looking forward to coming here. Now I know why. This, without doubt, is the most dramatic landscape I've ever seen in NZ. For me, it's the scale of the place. You` Your head just can't get round the size of these vertical walls of rock. The really cool thing about Grave and Talbot that I love is that weren't paid contractors. They weren't surveyors that had to be here. I think the fact that it was unexplored was the drawcard, but they must have loved the place, because that's the only way to explain their incredible persistence to come back year after year and face all the hardships ` face the rain, face the` the river crossings, the` ...the waterfalls... ...the waterfalls... ...boulder-hopping. It was in their blood. That's why they kept coming back. They must have got along with each other. Well, you think about some of the things that we had to try and recreate during this trip. If they didn't trust in their relationship, if they didn't trust in their ability and know that they were going to be able to get to the bottom of some of those passes, they never would have come back for a second turn. I feel sorry for Grave and Talbot, because they wanted to open up Milford Sound for other people to enjoy, and after all their hard work, all they found was a pass that you have to be a` actually` a pretty good mountaineer just to get through it. But, you know what? If it weren't for Grave and Talbot, there wouldn't be hundreds of thousands of people coming to Milford every year. Without them, they wouldn't have committed to building the tunnel. So their legacy is in every photo and postcard that comes out of this place. Speaking of postcards, let's find one to send to your mum. Speaking of postcards, let's find one to send to your mum. (CHUCKLES)