Blogs from Milford Sound, Fiordland National Park, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 10

24-27.9.2005 Milford track pise Zuzka Rano sme z Te Anau vyrazili po 120 km dlhej a v podstate slepej Milford Road smerom na sever. Konecnou stanicou je Milford Sound, co je jeden z mnohych ladovcom vytvorenych fjordov. Scenic Milfoard Road, ako ju tu nazyvaju, je popretkavana mnohymi scenickymi vyhliadkovymi zastavkami a tak sme sa na jednej z nich zastavili aj my a spravili si maly 3 hodinovy track k Lake Marion. Cesta dalej viedla tunelom, ktory skor pripominal banicku sachtu (bol bez osvetlenia, bez obkladov stien, s velkymi dierami v asfalte a pomerne strmym sklonom.... brrr... klaustrofobik by tu dostal zachvat), no spolahlivo nas doviedla az do ciela. Ako byva zvykom, Milford Sound nas vital dazdom a tak nam neostavalo ine, ako ubytovat sa v jedinom moznom ubytovacom zariadeni Milford Lodge. Po chvili pobehovania po okolitych ... read more

Well after a gorgeous journey to Milford Sound we arrived to be greeted by swarms and swarms of Sand Flies - yuck!! The only comforting thought was that only the females attack you for your blood! Camp site was very basic (although probably to be expected in a World Heritage Site) and to be honest was a little too "League of Gentlemen" for our tastes! Anyway boat trip tomorrow! PS: Meant to say that we stopped off at The Chasm on the way which was awesome! ... read more

- FOOD: Lunch with the sandflies (don't eat outside here!) - AREA: Wonderful drive to Milford Sound on the most scenic (and not at all dodgy) road. 2 hour boat trip to view the beautiful scenery of the Sounds. - PEOPLE: All pointing their cameras in the same direction at the same time. The usual friendliness of NZers in a different pub. - WEATHER: After rain and avalanches recently, we had sun all day! Wed 17th: After everyone telling us the road to Milford Sound was difficult and dodgy to drive on and after discovering it had been shut the last 4 days due to bad weather and avalanches, the info woman said it was fine so off we went. Luck was with us as the sun was shining and the sky was clear blue (it ... read more

Back to Milford Sound… that was one of my main attractions to go back to New Zealand, it’s one of the places I really wanted to see also in the winter. And what’s better than a nice sunny day in winter? In winter there are more waterfalls flowing into the fiord, and of course the mountains are all snow-capped. I look in the pictures from my previous visit and see that it was a pretty overcast day - funny to come back in winter and not see even one cloud… Since Marie is with me, we stop in all the places on the way as you do in your first visit. The mirror lakes, lake Gunn, the rapids of Marian creek. I remember most of the places but I still find them stunning. And I simply ... read more

Funny thing about New Zealand weather is that you never know what tomorrow will bring. We actually had to postpone our planned activities on several occasions while trekking due to unforeseen bad weather. For instance, our scenic flight to Milford Sound was delayed 24 hours but to avoid arriving to Franz Josef Glacier late, we just extended our scenic flight (through www.glenorchy.net.nz) all the way up the West Coast, through Mt Cook to Franz Josef. Perhaps, the weather made our scenic flight even better since it snowed the day before capping the mountain ranges with a soft blanket of white. Once we arrived in Milford Sound, we took a cruise (www.realjourneys.co.nz) to the Tasman Sea where we spotted waterfalls, dolphins, and seals. ... read more