Milford Sound

November 20th – Milford Sound

Departing from Queenstown for a long day trip down to Milford Sound, it was a wet, dreary, cloudy ominous feeling day. But with Fredriek & I having met up in Queenstown again the night before (& enjoyed Panagonia ice cream with a walk along the Lake Wakatipu) & taking the Milford bus together I knew it would be a fun time no matter what. Along our long morning trip we headed south along the Remarkables Mountain Range passing along the stretch of highway called the Devil’s Staircase, carved out in the 1930’s by pick axe, wheelbarrow & sheer brute force. Must say I was happy to be inside the warm coach bus unlike the thousands of rain soaked sheep, cattle & deer. Onwards to Te Anau, we spotted Mt Murchison & passed the three arms of Lake Te Anau. This area of the country, the Fiordland National Park, has been combined with many of the other National Parks in the region to be deemed a world heritage site & I can see why. It has a mix of cliffs with cascading waterfalls, tree lines of pine & fir forests leading to rainforest with ferns & palms to rivers & streams lined with yellow, pink & purple lupins clumped with bright yellow Scottish broom. Truly majestic! Passing Mirror Lakes, Knobs Flats, Lake Fun led us to the most astounding sights where you just had to keep looking up to take in the whole of the mountains that were enveloped by the clouds with the peaks trying to poke out. Hopping off to take it all in, we were met by keas, birds native to NZ & found mostly in mountainous areas. The Homer Tunnel, 1219m long road tunnel, dug out in the 1930’s looks a lot like it would have been back in the day. A very rustic feel. Then it was on to the Chasm, an area of rock formation formed by the rushing waters of the Cleddau River.

Our long desired arrival into Milford Sound & all aboard the Milford Monarch with the clouds clearing & the sun beaming down from above. It was perfectly timed for our short but soooo fantastic tour. We passed by & took in Bowen Falls, Mitre Peak, the Lion, Sinbad Gully, Mt Phillips, The Llawrenny Peaks, Copper Point, Anita Bay & looked all the way out to the Tasman Sea. We could see Mt Pembroke, the Pembroke Glacier & Harrison Cove. One of the highlights was spotting yellow-eyed penguins across from Dale Point & the resting sea lions by Stirling Falls.

I have been dropped off in Te Anau to take in the sights & sounds…… hoping to do part of the Kepler Track in the next couple days before exploring the Catlins.