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netGallery > Jon and Sarah > World_Tour_2006 > New Zealand > Te Anau and Milford Sound

Te Anau and Milford Sound

New Zealand

April 2007

TE ANAU AND MILFORD SOUND

We were told to go to Milford Sound by a few people we’d met on our travels. It is a tranquil part of the world where mountains and lush hills sit on a beautiful stretch of water. The result is an awe-inspiring landscape, so who cares that in fact its not actually a sound but instead a fiord. Just so you know, a fiord is a very long inlet from the sea with high steeply sloped walled sides. A fjord (or fiord) is a landform created during a period of glaciation.

We based ourselves at the camp site in Te Anau, and for once were up and out by 8:30 as we had a long drive to the sound, in order to catch our 11am boat cruise. There was much to see on the way but we had no time to stop and knew we could take a more leisurely drive back. To get there we had to drive through the Homer Tunnel, which allows you to pass right through the middle of a rather massive mountain. The tunnel was totally carved by hand, by a guy named Harry Homer and is 1200m long and has a steep gradient of 1 in 10. As you come out the other side and look back at the mass of rock you just burrowed through its quite amazing.

So we made the boat, and happily boarded to flee from the fireflies. These are smaller than mosquitoes, but come out at daytime and have a nasty bite. They are relentless so we were glad to set off and see the scenery. This is a stunning place and we spent two great hours chugging around these waterways, admiring waterfalls, high cliffs cut by glaciers and wildlife such as birds and seals. As we snapped photos from the outer deck small propeller planes would sweep over us giving tourists a birds eye view for a slightly higher fee. Very pleasant.

On the way back we did indeed take time to stop at some of the key places of interest. A very deep and cool looking chasm and some mirror lakes that are so still and clear that they provided great reflections of the landscape beyond. We also couldn’t resist stopping to take a photo of yet another signpost with a silly name…. Knobs flat. Laughing as we took it and drove off we mentally added it to the list of other crackers we’d seen in New Zealand… Shag Point, Mystery Creek, Puke Hill and my favourite Hooker Valley! We kid you not.

We made a little friend at one of the stop offs in the form of a very cheeky but very pretty green Kea bird. The parrot like bird took a fancy to the roof of our camper and wouldn’t budge for at least ten minutes. A very handsome specimen.