Milford Sound

One of the best things I found about going to Milford is that you have to drive along the Milford Road to get there, 120km long and the only way in and out. From Te Anau it winds its way past beautiful mirrored lakes and steep sided mountains. About half way along it becomes a dense temperate rainforest, the roadsides scattered with waterfalls and avalanche scars.

Rather than complete the journey in a day we decided to spread it out over three, nicely situated informal campgrounds are dotted along the road, they’re rather basic but very pretty nonetheless. Consisting of 10 or so spots to park a van or pitch a tent in amongst the forest, a couple of long drop toilets, and a river for water, all anyone could need. We have a van full of food, gas and warm clothes so we were good to go. Our first night was spent tucked in a private spot amongst some old beech trees that backed onto the river, a very friendly black bird made some good company as it hopped around our campsite eating the infuriating sandfly that feed on animal blood, including humans. We somehow still managed to be bitten despite wearing long trousers and fleeces with our hoods up.

The next morning we continued our drive to Milford, our cruise was not until 4pm but we left early so we could stop along the way and do a few short walks before getting there. We stopped at various lookouts and waterfalls to snap away like good old fashioned tourists before arriving at the entrance to Homer Tunnel, just before the tunnel we parked the car and went for a half hour stroll through the boulder strewn landscape beneath the impressive hills. We then drove through the tunnel. When I think of a tunnel I picture a well laid road with a tiled wall and ceiling and strips of fluorescent lighting along the roof. This has none, a handful of low powered light bulbs are dispersed along its 1.5km length, I’m sure there were more leaks in the tunnel than lights. The sides and roof are rough rock and still show the marks and scrapes from whatever monster drill bore it out. On the way to Milford the traffic flow through the tunnel was controlled by a set of traffic lights, however on the way back it was a free for all, and for some unknown reason the lights were out. No road markings and a variable width made passing oncoming traffic a fun game which I allowed Lauren to play as I hid behind our road atlas.

When we arrived at Milford we were instantly impressed by the scale of it, mountains rose straight out of the sea and carried on for over 2000 metres. At the time we arrived it seemed very busy, coachloads of Japanese tourists would be lead out of their busses, into the terminal, onto the boat and then back again. We decided to go and have lunch and avoid the hustle and bustle for a while. After eating lunch in a nice café and going for a wander around the boardwalk along the shore line it was time for our cruise. It was a miracle, all the coaches had left the terminal car park and we were directed to one of the smaller boats in the fleet, going for the 4pm time seemed to have paid off. Most people like to go for the lunchtime cruises because it gives them time to get in and out in a day. We were in no such rush. We were happy to find that our boat was less than half full, which made for a much more intimate experience.

The boat left the terminal and we were instantly greeted with the magnificent Bowen Falls. It snaked its way along the south shore of what we were told is actually a fiord not a sound, skirting waterfalls and finding rocky points with sleeping seals on. It gradually worked its way past the point at which most of the shorter cruises return and entered the Tasman Sea. After a good look at the fiord from further afield and an encounter with the world’s second rarest penguin, the Fiordland Crested Penguin, we began our 20km journey back towards the wharf. This time along the north coast of the fiord, with snow-capped peaks in the hills to the north it was no surprise that the north side was dominated by several spectacular waterfalls, one of which the skipper decided to park directly underneath giving the handful of us that stayed on deck a thorough soaking. On the return trip we were given a great view looking back as the clouds rolled in creating some fantastic patterns around the mountains. After over 2 and a ½ hours we rounded Bowen Falls again and returned back to the wharf. We drove back to our campsite and battled once more with sandflies as we cooked our dinner, we were defeated however and were forced to eat inside our van.

We awoke to rain the next morning so decided to be very lazy and sleep in, our first lie in for quite some time. At 11 o clock we decided to make a move and head back to picturesque Te Anau so we can shower and freshen up. This afternoon we will head to Lake Manapouri to the south which is NZ’s second deepest lake before heading back inland and preparing our assault on the West Coast.

Not sure when we will have chance to blog again so here are loads of photos from Milford to keep you going.

X x x