New Zealand - South Island - Milford Sound

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Hi folks, well it just gets better and better, we got up at 6.00 am this morning and caught a coach to Milford Sound, it was about a 6 hour drive away from Queenstown with stops. We stopped at a town called Te Anau to pick up more travellers and went through amazing scenery on the way along the Milford Road into Fiordland National Park. We got off and took some photos at Eglinton Valley where a scene from Lord of the Rings was filmed. ( I will put photos 3 and 4 up) We then continued to Mirror Lakes, a short little walk looking at a pretty and very clear lake with views of the Earl Mountains. At this point our driver Pauly said we were 3/4 of the way down the planet and went on to explain that 70 per cent of the forest was destroyed by Europeans cutting down trees to build houses and clearing land for their animals and the Maori people used to set fire to the forest to entice the Moa bird out in order to kill it for food and the use of their bones, consequently now the Moa is extinct (looked like an emu). So, happy going along and we stopped at a stream where we filled up our water bottles with water from it, tasted sweet, it was so clear. We saw fantastic scenery, mountains with glaciers on them, we passed by The Divide, this is the lowest east-west pass in the Southern Alps, (531 metres) and marks the start of the Routeburn, Caples and Greenstone Tracks. We dropped a guy off here, he was taken 4 - 5 days to walk it, brave lad, rather get driven me-self !! Bimbling along and we arrived at the Homer Tunnel, it is an access through sheer Rock and has an altitude of 945 metres above sea level and 1.2 kilometres in length, this was built mainly by hand and a few sticks of dynamite used when needed. When we came out of the tunnel, magnificent view into the valley below, lots of windy roads and eventually we arrived at Milford Sound to catch our boat. On we boarded, had our lunch whilst sailing through the Fiords, there are 14 altogether and apparently the Queen Mary comes through the one we were on. It was certainly breathtaking, the mountains are huge, there were a few little planes flying through them, I thought they were birds, that's how small they were. The boat then went underneath a waterfall, I took their advice and put a plastic mac on, otherwise you would get soaked, we did !! we saw the Southern Fur Seals lazing on the rocks, there was one penquin, but if you blinked it was gone, I blinked !!! Never saw it. We saw Mitre Peak, which is at a height of 1,692 metres, highest mountain in the world to rise directly from the ocean floor. We went out into the Tasman Sea and we couldn't have wished for a better day, it was so hot, the sun was shining on the sea and the mountains, we were so lucky, usually it rains a lot. This definitely made up for the Blue Mountains !! It was a great day, took 13 hours and we covered 370 miles round trip but sooooo worth it.

You know that saying 'living the dream', this is what we are doing.

Right, tomorrow setting off to another destination, we loved Queenstown, such a great place, loads to do, catered for Back Packers and people with money, great scenery and hot. Still, happy to see what the next adventure is, will be hard to beat this one. Goodnight.

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Comments

[Denise]

Wow fantastic journey! Very detailed. Good reading. Can't even imagine how many miles you would have clocked up by the end of your journey! Lots of love to u and stu. Xx

[Deb]

Wonderful memories
Hi Karol and Stu, It sounds like you're having a fabulous time. Your tales of New Zealand are bringing back so many wonderful memories of our trip to South Island. We did the boat trip which you did today, we also did an overnight on board a boat on Doubtful Sound, I would recommend that if you have time. We stayed in Te Anau for two nights at either end walking the Milford Track. Again if you have time there is a small cinema in Te Anau which, at the time we visited, showed an amazing film which had been taken from a plane flying over fjord land and the Milford Sound. We also loved Queenstown, it's such a vibrant place and so beautifully scenic, try the ice cream shop close to the lake! If you're visiting the visitor centre for Mount Cook in the Hooker Valley they also do a 3D film of the area which was brilliant but left be feeling a bit queasy. Looking forward to reading more of your blogs. Enjoy the rest of your trip. Deb