Milford Sound - Day 268
Trip Start
Jan 31, 2008
1
189
251
Trip End
Ongoing
Milford Sound,
South Island,
New Zealand
Monday, November 17, 2008
Even on a damp and overcast day like today the scenery from Te Anau north to Milford is jaw dropping. Full of tourists yes, but understandable considering this true wilderness area is so easily accessible by car. Every inch of the scenery here is epic. The rivers, steep sided mountains, forests, waterfalls and lakes all merge together to create a landscape with an other worldly feel. In places the landscape looks almost surreal.
During my frequent stops to take photos and gaze at the scenery I saw my first groups of cheeky Kea birds, cute and slightly comical looking birds which must be related parrots. They congregate in search of scraps of food from the tourists. They know exactly where the cars stop so you normally see them in the most beautiful spots. There're clever little rascals, I had a couple on the roof of my car trying to pull off the window seals and staring at me through the glass while I eat my tuna sandwiches. They have no fear of humans at all, when you try and push them off the car, they just look at you nonchalantly and don't budge. They do get a little annoying after a while.
Eglinton Valley gauged out by a glacier is a near perfect flat expanse of grass and patchy forest sandwiched between steep towering peaks. I visited the Mirror lakes surrounded by lush beech forest, these lakes were formed when the river running through the valley changed course, leaving these small pockets of water. The small lakes on a calm day mirror the mountains in the background, hence the name. I could sort of see the effect today, although the waters weren't completely still as a light breeze was blowing through the valley.
The road then steeply climbs to its highest point at the Homer tunnel, a little under 1000 metres. The tunnel is surrounded by steep cliffs on three sides with water gushing down into the valley with ice and snow clinging to the rock. It's like a massive amphitheatre with the valley below being the spectacular stage set. The tunnel is over a kilometre long and one-way, so a set of lights which change ever 15 minutes controls the traffic. The tunnel is pitch black with some very low-powered lights but the effect when you leave the tunnel is stunning, suddenly you're back in daylight with Cleddau valley down below which is truly majestic!! Then the road winds down to sea level where I finally arrived at Milford Sound which feels like the end of the world. I parked the car and went for a walk on a short trail along the front of the sound. What ever the weather I think it's impossible to take a bad photo in this awesome landscape, with the tall and pointed Mitre peak in the background nearly 1700 metres above the fiord. It's a magical scene.
Decided to take a Milford Sound cruise, I love boats but I hate these touristly excursions but sometimes you have to bite the bullet if you want to see a place, in this instance there's no other choice.
It rained, the sun came out occasionally, the mist descended, the mist lifted. Absolutely perfect weather for the cruise, I saw the fiord in so many different lights and due to the rainfall, literally hundreds of waterfalls cascaded down the steep sided peaks into the fiord. They say it's best to come here when it's raining because the waterfalls are in full flow. The boat reached the end of the fiord and briefly entered the Tasman Sea, as soon as we left the shelter of the fiord the waters got rather choppy. We headed back to the busy ferry terminal as the sun made a guest appearance with the summit of Mitre peak just visible through the low cloud, not a bad way to end my time at Milford.
Sleeping tonight in the Eglinton Valley close to a pretty river around 45km south of Milford. Will head to Queenstown tomorrow morning and decide where to go and what to do next. I think something adrenaline fuelled is in order.
