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Published: February 2nd 2010
Hugging Lake Wakatipu
on the road from Queenstown to KingstonToday is a bit of a race. Starting off in a luxurious hotel (hard not to pamper myself for just 10 more minutes), I need to drive to Milford Sound which is about 50km away, and arrive by 15:30. Sounds easy I know, but in between Queenstown and Milford Sound, there's just a great big mountain, and to date, the good people of NZ have not yet paid for a 50km tunnel to be bored through thr rock so that I can drive dirctly there.
As a consequence of this, the only road to Milford Sound goes round the mountains for 300km and takes 4 hours to drive. If I want time to stop off on the way, that means no hot tubbing this morning.
The drive starts along Lake Wakatipu with the road hugging the shoreline then continues through what I can only call 'sheep country'. At last, the image I originally had of NZ is here with undulating hills dotted with sheep. There are a few very small villages like Garston (home of Jim's world famous fly shop), Athol, Five Rivers, Mossburn and The Key, then about 200km into the drive, is the big town of Te
Half way to Milford
The hills start to get steeper even though they are still tree lined Anau. I know this is big, as it has a supermarket and a petrol station. More importantly, it's the last petrol station on my route as there is nothing on the way to Milford Sound, nor even in Milford Sound. So, with 240km to drive there and back, it's a good idea to fill up here.
The drive then hugs Lake Te Anau, which claims to be the largest lake in the South Island (only Lake Taupo is the North is larger). This is a gentle looking stretch of water with some moderate hills around. On the west side of the lake is the Fiordland National Park which to you and I means 'nothing'. There are no roads, no settlements, just a few walking tracks and the occasisional trig point.
Leaving the laake, the road starts a long gentle climb, passing 10 camp sites within 40 km before getting into a rougher more barren section near the so called Divide. This is the point where any surface water has to decide which way to roll - down to the south or down to the north. There's now snow on the peaks around, and the mountaimns are far more
Water flowing south
From the Divide, gentle streams flow south angular. At one point, it looks as if the road will come to a dead end. Theere appears to be a hige cliff of rock infront and no obvious way forward. Luckily, although it took 15 years to construct, the locals dug the Homer Tunnel through the rock so that roas access to Milford Sound could be estabmished in the early 1950's. The tunnel is single track and 1,5km long with a poor surface and hardly any lighting. I can't imagine what it must be like for the few brave cyclists who come up here - not something I'd ever want to try.
Out of the tunnel, and it's a very steep drop in 2nd gear down to Milford Sound. The brakes are complaining again, and the scenery is amazing. At the end of the road is a car park, a quayside and a few huts. No shops, no ice cream vans, just the boats ready to take coachloads of tourists for a cruise on the Sound.
I'm booked on the Milford Marriner. It's a nice boat with en-suite cabins and a capacity for about 50 passengers. The package I signed up for includes a sail out into
Moving up
As the road gets higher, the trees disapear and snow capped peaks are now visible (in summer) the Sound, then some canoeing in the Sound, then a buffet meal, a slide show and talk, a night on the boat, breakfast, another sail out into the open Tasman Sea, then back to Milford. Have a look at the pictures.
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