Milford Sound, South Island

Well, an early start 7 am and a little wet. The journey starts in Te Anau and ends in the the world famous fjord of Milford Sound / Piopiotahi, a memorable 120 km journey into the heart of Fiordland National Park. There are many view points along the route: te Anau downs, Lake Mistletoe, Eglinton valley - flat and wilderness like, Mackay Creek with views of Pyramid Peak, Mirror Lakes, Cascade Creek and Lake Gunn. At 84 km the vegetation changes as you pass across The Divide - the lowest East - West pass in the Southern Alps. From The Divide the road falls into the beech forest of Hollyford valley. The drive is reasonably good, windy up and down but fine. From Gertrude Saddle the way gets steeper, much tighter corners, deep ravines, single track bridges and the Homer tunnel - at an altitude of 945 km above sea level, pierces the sheer rock to allow access to Milford sound, framed by a high-walled, ice-carved amphitheatre. Opened in 1954, it is 1.27 km long and at peak times controlled by lights as it is basically single track - especially if you met a coach coming the other way! Hewn out of rock and unlined, the dark and dripping with water tunnel finally emerges at the head of a spectacular valley where the road down is a number of tight Z bends until you reach the lower levels of the sound. All-in-all quite a scary 90 - 120 min drive!
It was still raining when we arrived, but a Kea was being mischievous on top of the car next to us, then jumped onto ours afterwards - visitors are warned not to get too close to them or distracted. One Kea may be dancing to entertain while another makes off with your stuff! The Kea is a flightless alpine parrot.
We had some coffee then settled down to wait for the boat that was taking us on our tour - The Milford Mariner. The New Zealand guide was excellent, with the correct amount of information given, a sense of humour and extremely patient with Spanish tourists! As the area had had a lot of rain (and was still raining) there was not only the 2 permanent waterfalls - Lady Elizabeth Bowen and Stirling but many more, can be up to 100, so rain is always good for seeing Milford Sound at its best! The most famous peak, Mitre Peak (Rahotu) the spectacular 1,692 m mountain rising from the dark waters of the sound is something to behold and makes you feel very small.
We saw amazing peaks, waterfalls, rain-forest, sheer cliffs, NZ fur seals and Fiordland crested penguin, the grandeur, magnificence and awe inspiring scenery was never far away
Then for the drive back to Te Anau! After a coffee at Te Annau we swapped drivers and Trev headed to Queenstown via a slightly less trying route.Read more