Te Anau and the elusive Milford SOund

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So on Friday Steve and I jumped back into the Starlet and headed off towards Te Anau in order to visit Milford Sound over that weekend. The drive once again was scenic with the rain only catching up with us in Queenstown.

We had a quick stop in Queenstown as I needed to collect some snow chains as you are obliged to carry them on the Milford Sound Road. After a quick argument with the most miserable car rental guy going I was given a set of snow chains. Having done a quick supermarket stop we started to head south once again.

The drive was a lot easier and quicker than we had anticipated and we therefore arrived in Te Anau early afternoon so decided we would drive straight to Milford Sound and stay at a hostel just outside of Milford however we were thwarted at the start as we soon came across a sign advising that the road was closed at Holyford as a result of a high avalanche risk! So we turned back around and found the hostel in Te Anau.

Having dumped my bags I headed out into the town which was dead and so I moved on and went for a walk down by the lakeside. The rain held off for most of the walk however I was damp by the time I got back to the hostel.

Saturday morning we got up and the Milford Sound Road was open however Steve and I decided we would do the Road the next day and do a walk around the lake on the Saturday. Having looked at a local map we decided to walk to Brod Bay on the opposite side of the lake. The walk was nice and flat often by the lakeside otherwise through the temperate rainforest. It was nice to stretch my legs properly and thankfully the weather was fine for us. It was a 5 hour return trip so I was suitably tired by the end of it!

Sunday morning and having set the alarm for an early wake up call to go down to Milford Road it transpired the road was closed. After a brief debate Steve and I decided that we were in no specific hurry to leave Te Anau however we would venture down the road for the day and see what there was to see and if the road remained closed on Monday, which it was forecast to do, we would leave and go to Queenstown.

We gained a travel companion, Nick, for the day. So we all piled into the Starlet and set off. Whilst we were able to get 100km along the road there was very little to see and needless to say the mirror lakes did not live up to their name as the rain fall a. meant that there was no reflection b. there couldn't have been any reflection as the rain gave the mountains a mist like effect. On the drive to the road closed barrier we did see a small avalanche that had obviously come down in the days before. On reaching the barrier we jumped out took photos of the waterfall on the opposite side of the valley and then headed back.

Monday morning after a lie in I decided to check out the road status just in case and surprisingly it was open which then caused a quick scramble from Steve and Nick to get up and dressed. We then checked in at the hostel for a further night. After a quick breakfast we jumped into Nicks Toyota Corsa and headed to the elusive Milford Sound.....

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