Our challenge today is to enjoy the wondrous drive from Queenstown to Milford Sound. I think we’ll manage it but let’s see.
After a good night’s sleep – can you believe how late it gets dark here? It was still a bit light at 10pm! It plays havoc with your body clock – we left just before 9am and started off brilliantly with the drive along the eastern shore of Lake Wakatipu. We coped ok with the view but our eyes were tired. After leaving the lake, we had a rest from the intensity of the scenery until we reached Te Anau. This section of our journey was punctuated with a coffee/hot chocolate stop at Mossburn. After a rest to buy, of all things, a nail file, at Te Anau, our senses had been sufficiently rested to cope with the remaining 120kms to Milford Sound.
It is without doubt a beautiful drive – waterfalls, views, tree lined ‘tunnels’ and stunning scenery. The closer you get to Milford sound, the more intense. A couple of spots we particularly liked was firstly Mirror Lakes. A bit too much wind today to fully appreciate it. The second was the rest area at the northern end of Lake Gunn. Sand Flies are a bit of a pain but with a bit of repellent, I think it would be a wonderful spot to camp for a night. We even contemplated doing it on the way back. Shortly after this you start climbing towards Homer Tunnel – a 1km long tunnel which allows access to the other side of the range, otherwise Milford Sound is really only accessible by boat. Something not even shown on the map is ‘Falls Creek’. (photo) As you are moving down a steep section, suddenly there is a one-lane bridge. There were about 20 people standing on the bridge. We stopped to have a look and saw a very powerful waterfall running into the river that we were following. It had been raining all morning in the area and we think that the number of waterfalls and the amount of water was accentuated by this. The other consequence was that there was quite a bit of low cloud obstructing our views of the mountain tops. Still the water was spectacular.
At the entrance to the tunnel there is a large open area, with ice, waterfalls and very tall mountains close beside you. Unfortunately the low cloud obstructed the view a little and it was quite cold BUT spectacular. The size of the area was deceiving and ice which looks a metre high was 3 metres high as a few brave souls went and stood beside it. Look for the orange spot in the photo. This area was used as a camp for when they built the tunnel – by the way it was started in 1930 during the depression and was only finished in 1991 – and doesn’t have any direct sunshine between April & September!
After a few photo’s we headed into the tunnel and started what turned out to be a constant decent for 18kms into Milford Sound. Again it was absolutely stunning. We stopped – along with 200 others – at ‘The Chasm’ which again was a thundering waterfall through a narrow chasm (obviously). (photo) We are not sure if the quantity of water was more than usual but you could hear the low frequency pounding of the water.
Thankfully we’d booked a spot as the camping area was otherwise full. The sand flies were a bit of a pain so after walking around to look at the wharf and a few views we spent the rest of the time in the camper.
Milford Sound looks spectacular (photo) and we have a cruise on the sound booked for 10am tomorrow so look forward to that immensely. Hopefully some of the cloud may have miraculously vanished overnight.
Our plan for o/n stops from here is Monday – Queenstown, Tuesday – Lake Wanaka, Wednesday – Fox Glacier, Thursday – Greymouth, and Friday – our last day L - Christchurch.
Time for a yummy chicken curry dinner!
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