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Published: April 25th 2011
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The following morning we decided to stay for a second night and get some washing done and have a break from driving as we had gone from coast to coast in one day again!! We went into Te Anau for a wander around the small town and the lake but didn’t really stay for long other than to pick up a few essentials a birthday present for Matthew and also ended up with 2 new fleeces for us!! We headed into the local I site and picked up some info on the walks and the drive along Milford Sound. It is meant to be one of the most scenic drives in New Zealand and we were planning on spending a few days taking our time and stopping at the DOC (department of conservation) campsites along the way and doing loads of the walks along the way.
So after a relaxing day at the campsite we had an early night and headed out early the next day to the sound. There are lots of walks on the way to the sound, the first of these is Lake Mistletoe. it’s a 1 hour return by the lake and through forest. The lake
was quite nice with quite a good mirrored effect but nothing spectacular, so once back at the van we quickly moved on our way. A short way on we came across the morning traffic jam - well the New Zealand version anyway!! Farmers were moving their sheep along the road from one field to another and we got caught in the middle!! Next stop was for the mirror Lakes. We were looking forward to these, expecting some great scenery as we were surrounded by mountains. However, it was a massive disappointment. - the ‘lakes’ were no more than a large pond and Lake mistletoe had a better mirror effect than these lakes!! It was right next to the road so at least we hadn’t walked for an hour to discover they weren’t any good!!
So we headed on wards down the road towards Milford. We were now getting onto the very windy and narrow roads so needed to be careful to watch the road and not the scenery. So Mark watched the road and I looked out for the signs to Lake Gunn. This was a walk through forest to the lakes edge. It started at one of the
DOC sites that we were considering staying at for the night but it wasn’t that good. Car parking spots next to a stream with no river lake or mountain views and very very basic facilities. We decided to have lunch before we walked down to lake as we hadn’t eaten since we left the campsite that morning. The walk was lovely through quiet forest with lots of birdlife. The lake was huge and really windy by the edge. It was quite an overcast day which didn’t really help. Once back at the van we headed ever on ward to Milford. This is the hardest part of the drive as it involves narrow and windy roads that are forever going up and down. Then you get to the tunnel! There is a car park with the view of the waterfall at the entrance to the tunnel as the traffic lights take 15 minutes to change so we pulled over to look at the waterfall and give Mitsy a change to cool down and rest!! Once through the tunnel it really is steep and windy. It is said to be one of the most scenic drives in New Zealand but neither me
or Mark would agree with that description. It was scenic and there were lots of little waterfalls down the sides of the mountains but it wasn’t as awe inspiring as some of the driving we have done! We decided to head straight to the end to Milford and then work our way back to do any other walks we wanted to do.
We were expecting Milford to be bigger than the town that was there. It consists of a lookout to Mitre Peak, a restaurant, hotel and a port. Seemingly the only reason people drive to Milford is to get on a boat out into the sound and people who do that seem to get on a bus back at Te Anau! So after a walk up to the lookout and a quick toilet stop we turned around and headed back along the road.
Before heading back through the tunnel we stopped at the Chasm walk. This was said to be a walk by powerful waterfalls that have shaped the rock into strange formations. As we started along the was we walked past 2 waterfalls down the side of the rock that were dry. You could see where
they would normally flow in winter or after heavy rainfall but there was nothing flowing at the time. So a little apprehensive we continued to follow the path thinking this may be yet another disappointment on this journey. Soon we could hear powerful water flow and began to get a little more hopeful!! We soon came across ‘the chasm’ The sound of the water was just awesome and you could tell it got a lot more powerful after rainfall. The photos don’t do it justice as the walk way was directly above it and you don’t really get the scale of it. So not so disappointing as we first thought!
As it was only early afternoon and we were on our way back we were no longer sure whether we would be staying or heading back to Te Anau and the campsite we left this morning. There were two more walks we wanted to do as these were to waterfalls. It meant a detour along a gravel road - which always makes us a little apprehensive!! However it was fairly flat and well maintained so we headed the 11 km along to the first walk to Marion Falls. This
was about an hour and half return walk and took us through the forest and out to the falls. You could hear the falls and the river long before we could see them but it was definitely worth the walk!! Back at the van we stopped for a cuppa tea and then headed a further 7 km to the end of the road to the Humbolt falls. These were advertised as being spectacular and impressive so we weren’t expecting much after the other disappointments of the day!! This walk was mainly up hill which was Ok as you knew it would be downhill on the way back!! The falls were high and had a big drop which was fairly impressive but we’d seen higher so that set us on a debate about what waterfalls we considered to be more spectacular - straight drops, cascades etc. We both decided some kid of cascade is more impressive than a single drop and a multiple drop is better than a single drop also. So I think our opinion of what a spectacular waterfall is differs from the writers of the leaflets!!
Back in the van we made the decision to head straight
back to Te Anau as we had completed all the walks we wanted to and all the DOC sites we had seen were not very good and didn’t have good views so there wasn’t much point in us staying when all we’d be doing the following day would be heading back to Te Anau anyway!! By the time we got back the sun was starting to set so there was a lovely sight over Lake Te Anau.
Overall a rather disappointing day - 280 Km, 6 walks all in 8 hours!!
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