Cruising Milford Sound

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Not only church bells to wake us up on our check out day in Dunedin, but bagpipers too! Packed up and headed to the main house for our brekkie. One lady in there quietly reading who was later joined by her son. I struck up conversation and found out her son was in Uni at Aukland. Kerry asked if they were Canadian (I had thought so too) and she paused before answering. We both said later that we werent sure if she was embarassed or insulted by this assumption when she said American. She had read the weather from the paper and it looked like a real cold front was coming in.

Loaded up the car and set off down H1 just in time for the rain to start. It was pouring out! Got behind a huge rig that sprayed even more water on us and with no visibility to pass him, was stuck there for quite awhile. The radio station (which lasted the usual 5 minutes) said there were winds predicted to hit 90kmh and possible snow on higher elevations. Great driving weather...... It was too bad that the weather turned as the view wasnt as good and far off hills were masked with a thin veil of mist. We couldnt see the vibrant green that made up the rolling hills and pastures. The windy roads were made slower by the pelting rain and spray from tires. Poor Kerry had a rough drive.

We were to switch over in Gore and I wasnt looking forward to driving these conditions. Made it there without incident and fueled up. I guess Mother Nature decided to show mercy on my poor nerves and the rain stopped and even gave way to alittle patch of blue sky. We switched over at H94 which proved to be a quieter highway as well which we had mostly to ourselves. Passed by the usual sheep and cows grazing, it was the penned up deer that really got to me. I'm used to seeing deer in their natural wild habitat and seeing them penned like that was really sad. As we made our way down the highway, again the landscape shifted to the beginnings of mountains and our road became more curvy. As luck would have it, the sun decided to shine and it created a perfect bright corridor to which we drove along leaving the rest of the sky bathed grey. The mountains and hills were started to see the cover of green trees instead of pasture and they were so high that the tips were hidden by wispy clouds. Now that it was dry out, I was having more fun driving the crazy corners.

As we grew closer to Te Anau where we were staying, our road had grassy green mountains on one side and what we assumed was the Southern Alps on the other. We had just hit our 1000 km on the odometer! We reached Te Anau finally and decided to grab a bite to eat before checking in. The town had one main road which was lined with restaurants, tour companies, usual tourist shops and a grocery store. The town itself was nestled alongside Lake Te Anau (second largest lake in NZ) with mountains views from every angle. This was where people stationed themselves for all the wonderful tracks to explore and a daytrip to Milford Sound. Grabbed a bowl of chowder at the Fat Duck and set off to the Great Lakes Holiday park. We were staying in a "cabin" which was basically a motel room with your own lav. Walked back over to the main road to explore the town. Instead of dinner out tonight, we just grabbed some cheese, bread and a bottle of wine. Relaxing evening after a not so easy drive.

Well, the next day we made the decision to never have a dinner that consisted only of cheese.................I'm sure you get my meaning. It was a chilly morning, clouds with a bit of blue sky when we set off to Milford Sound. After getting a takeaway coffee, we had our first brush with a near head on collision as Kerry pulled out of the parking lot into the wrong lane to a pair of BMW headlights bearing down on us. We were awake now. Back on the highway and our first look at Lake Te Anau. Picturesque with one side lined by mountain and the other the zigzag road and rolling hills. Te Anau Downs is the starting point for the Milford Track walkers. This walk usually has to be booked a year in advance as there is a limited amount of people allowed. We dipped into a beautiful valley bathed in early morning sunlight, dotted with various farms and thousands of sheep. We could now see the snow tipped Southern Alps even better as we entered the Fiordland National Park. LOTR GEEK NOTE: there were some aerial shots taken in this area for Fangorn Forest. Farther down the road we entered a portion of the highway that was engulfed in tall trees. This was the first time we had driven through a heavily forested area with tall straight trees lining the road. As we burst our of the trees, we entered a great plain of golden windswept long grass. Great valleys descended down on us making us feel like specs on the road. We were coming up on the Avenue of Disappearing Mountains where the rise of the road brings on the appearance the mountains are sinking in front of you. We passed through the 45th Parallel, the halfway point between the Equator and the South Pole. The climb up the mountain road started and we were lucky to break 40kmh. We had the Earl Mountains on our left and the Livingstone Mountains on our right and the sight was spectacular. Winding up and up our progress was slow but the grandeur around us made us forget our lack of speed. We stopped at a view point along the way to take some pics of the valleys and trees. I loved the trees here, they had crooky trunks and were dripping in dark moss. They cut a black figure in the forest with an umbrella of light leaves. Some of them towered over others and the construction of limb and leaf reminded me of a manicured bonsai tree. We climbed further until we reached the Homer Tunnel, the creepest tunnel on Earth. It's a one way tunnel where you have to wait for your green light to enter. The insides looked like they were literally chiseled out with ragged rock walls and ceiling. The road was partially paved but mostly loose gravel and was barely lit with random low wattage bulbs. Finally made it through and started the steep descent into Milford Sound.

Found out that the weather was sort of a double edged sword here. If it was sunny and blue, you were sure to get fantastic photos. If it was raining, then you would see all the hundreds of waterfalls. Alas, we had neither and entered the parking lot to a grey, dry day. Had quite abit of time before our tour left so we grabbed a coffee and sandwich from the only cafe. Took the free shuttle to the dock when it was time to go and walked the wharf, checking out the boats. We had the smallest one of the lot. We were taking the Cruising Milford Sound Ltd. tour upon the recommendation of the man at our motel. The tour buses down use this company and you are guaranteed a smaller group. As it worked out, there were only about 20 of us on board.

Our boat left the dock for our 1 1/2 hour tour of the Sound. We sat at the front of the boat as long as we could stand the freezing wind. We first passed by Bowen Falls, the largest permanent falls in the sound and a source of water and hydro electric power for the area. The fiord was spectacular with spots like the Footstool where you can really see where the glacier carved out the valley. The mountains where the glacier past by were pretty much vertical which accounts for the many waterfalls when it rains. It's pretty much solid rock and there is no where but down for the water to run when it rains. When there is signifcant rainfall, the fresh water creates a layer on top of the sea water that can get as thick as 10 metres. The record rainfall for this area in one day is 22 inches!! It started to rain out but not enough to activate any waterfalls unfortunately. The rocky coast was steep and jagged with rough trees and bushes fighting over a crack in the land. We went as far as Dale Point which is the northern entrance to MS and the opening to the Tasman Sea. On the way back we trolled along the opposite coast and was lucky enough to catch a fur seal chillin out on some rocks. It's coat was a velvety grey and took the opportunity to ham it up for the cameras. Just a ways past there was Stirling Falls, the second largest permanent falls. Off in the background stood Mnt. Pembroke which houses a glacier over 1 million years old. It was once one of the great glaciers that carved out Milford Sound. We made our way back to the harbour while we sat in the cabin trying to warm up. As we arrived, the rain started to get heavier so we decided to leave as soon as we docked.

It was a lovely trip and we were really glad we did it. Got to the car and I took my turn at the wheel. We were hoping our half tank of gas was going to do it as there was no where to get fuel. We left in the now pouring rain and made our slow climb up the mountainside. I guess I didnt realize coming down how trecherous this drive really was. We were quickly reminded of this as we passed a car in a deep ditch. Everyone behind us stopped to look (there wasnt anyone in the car), so it took some of the pressure off us as we were so slow. Hoping we wouldnt have to come across a tour coach coming the other way as I you couldnt see around any of the corners. By the time we made it to the dreaded tunnel, I had a huge caravan of cars behind me. The light turned green and I plunged us through the mountainside as fast as I safely could. One the other side I pulled off the road to let everyone go by me and set back off towards Te Anau. We were now past the trickier part of the road and the rain stopped making the rest of the drive much more enjoyable. Lots of tourists along the road, stopping to take photos. Got back to the motel and went straight out for lunch and were unlucky as nothing was open. Grabbed a snack and went back to the room. Had an early night due to the early morning and was off the next day to Queenstown.

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