A view westward from the bus to the valley that marks the southern trailhead of the Milford Track.
Right now we need to bring our bags down to the desk by 0600 so they can be taken to our hotel (a few blocks away) while we are on our all day trip to the Milford Sound. I booked the Novotel (sister chain to the Sofitel) when that was to be the final hotel in our stay. However, due to construction, they moved our final night’s accommodation to the Sofitel - after I had booked our final three nights at the Novotel. As long as they aren’t doing construction at night we should be all right.
We met Nicky in the hallway, as we were bringing our bags down, and the rest of the Walkers. When we were in the hallway we smelled wood smoke, as if someone was using their fireplace (we had smelled wood smoke the night before also). When we took our bags to the curb outside the lobby the smell was much more intense and through the foggy mist we spotted a billowing cloud of smoke and the flashing of red lights reflecting off the cloud. I walked to the end of the block where I could see all the emergency vehicles. At breakfast, the cook told us it was a 24-hour grocery store that burned, and one of his “blokes” was a volunteer firefighter and had to leave to fight the fire.
Our breakfast proceeded without incident, and we met at 0700 for our departure to Milford Sound. The mist and fog had let up, hiding only the peaks in cloud, but showing snow down to the 2000 ft level. The first leg of our trip was the two-hour drive to Te Anau. Highway 6 hugs the side of the hills that pen Lake Wakatipu between them. Approaching [Kingstown Junction] at the south end of the lake, the land opens up into pastureland featuring sheep, cattle and deer. The intersection with Highway 94 was barely marked with a highway sign and a tavern. The rolling farmlands continued as we rolled into Te Anau. We stopped to stretch our legs and give Nicky and Brenda (another Country Walkers guide who joined the one day extension to help with the driving) a chance to run a few errands.
Driving north from Te Anau, with Lake Te Anau on the left, the farmlands continued, but began to peter out as we started to drive through more forest and into the valley and the national park. The mountains were remarkably high in this glacially carved valley. At a place called Eglinton Flats, a grassland, uncontaminated by any introduced species, fills the valley floor and we stopped for some photos (probably irritating the folks on the bus that had stopped a half mile back, also for photographs).
Continuing northward, we passed tow lakes that feed the Eglinton River and turned west through a saddle into one of the most mountainous regions you can imagine. The road was precariously carved out of the side of steep slopes, and dipped and climbed and twisted its way among the forested mountainside. I was taking photographs from my perch in the front seat while Brenda navigated the curves in the road. Even as I was taking the snapshots, I was thinking that photography was not doing justice to these mountains.
The road rose through a valley surrounded by snow covered peaks to the entrance to the tunnel - rough hewn walls with two “passing bays” to allow the humongous tour buses to get by one another in the narrow confines. The road on the west side of the tunnel curved sharply through the switchbacks as it dropped quickly to the bottom of the valley. The weather, which was still cloudy with broken areas of sunlight while driving north from Te Anau cleared up when we reached the western side of the mountains. The ride down to Milford Sound was through sun-dappled beech forest.
There is minimal development at Milford Sound, two lodges, an air strip, and the boat terminal. Brenda dropped us off at the car park which allowed us to walk alongside the water for about 5 minutes to the terminal building where the busses park. Nicky got our boarding passes from the counter and distributed them as we waited for our boat to dock.
A view westward from the bus to the valley that marks the southern trailhead of the Milford Track.
Eglinton Flats - a wide view.
Eglinton Flats - a zoomed view.
Another view attempting to capture a sense of the weather.
Heading north out of Eglinton Flats into the Southern Alps that run the length of the South Island.
The road curling through the valleys approaching the Darran Mountains.
The east entrance of the Homer Tunnel.
The view coming out the west side of the tunnel.
First shot of Milford Sound and it's glacially carved landscapes.
Looking to where the Milford Track reaches its northern trailhead at Sand Fly Point. (My, doesn't that sound inviting?)
Our sightseeing boat was one of the smaller ones plying the waters.
A helicopter lifting a pallet of supplies - perhaps to one of the huts on the Milford Track.
Our boat and some more glacially sculpted peaks and valleys.
Some of the other craft docked at the terminal.
Once again, I doubt the pictures I took will do justice to the sheer immensity of nature. The walls of the sound drop into the water at steep angles, hiding almost 2000 feet of their true height under water. A 500 foot waterfall is dwarfed against a mountainside six to ten times its height. It was an amazing punctuation mark to our journey.
The boat took us clockwise around the walls of the fjord with the captain pointing out items of interest - vegetation, geology, and animal life. We saw a few more penguins and seals on the rocks, but not as close up as we had on the beach near Lake Moeraki. The boat took us out into the 6 foot swells of the Tasman Sea - a fairly calm day according to our captain. We returned to the fjord and worked our way along the north side, stopping at the aquarium where the have underwater viewing of the sea life. We did not get off, as it was an extra charge, but the boat picked up about 30 people to take back to the boat terminal.
Can you find the helicopter in this shot?
Looking northward leaving the terminal.
Leaving the docks, there was an impressive waterfall on the right, not visible from the terminal.
I liked to get the other boats in these photographs to communicate the scale of the landscape.
In the distance, there is a waterfall that drops out of a U-shaped valley into the sound.
This was the best my zoom could do with the shot - but I got a couple of the other boats.
Looking back towards the terminal.
Another view of the U-shaped 'hanging' valley. This feature is found in land that has experienced glaciation.
Jonathan on the upper deck looking for a good shot. Our boat only had one enclosed deck.
More landscape.
Another angle and closer shot of the waterfall from the hanging valley.
If you look closely, you can see red flowers on this rata tree.
One of a multitude of waterfalls that drop into the sound. Due to the unusually dry weather, their flow was down.
With all the fresh water from these waterfalls, there is actually a layer of fresh water over the denser saltwater.
Nicky takes in the falls.
And yet more waterfalls.
Another waterfall into the sound - with a cruise boat to provide scale.
Looking back. This is the photo I cropped for the image at the top of this page.
Looking out to sea - the Tasman Sea between New Zealand and Australia to be specific.
We did see a penguin here, but not as close nor in as great numbers as we saw at Lake Moeraki.
Looking back into the sound.
Waves crashing on rocks at the mouth of the sound.
Jonathan at the stern of the boat looking for a photo opportunity.
Coming back into the sound.
Fur seals sunning themselves on the rocks.
More landscape.
The waterfall from the hanging valley.
A pair of Australian 'blokes' experiencing the spray of the waterfall as the boat came close beneath it.
The aquarium on a spur of the sound. We didn't go in.
Looking northward up that spur.
Looking seaward - the southern cliffs.
Looking seaward - the northern cliffs.
The waterfall near the boat terminal.
A view where you can see some of the piers of the boat terminal along with the falls.
We retraced our steps back to Te Anau with a stop at “the Chasm” where a vigorous stream had cut a deep gash through the rock, at a spot where we could look at some buttercups in bloom (where we were again importuned by a pair of keas), and at an overlook where Nicky pointed out the Routeburn Track. That track ran along the slope of the opposite range just below the tree line - the idea of hiking up the hill made my thighs twinge. Another brief pit stop in Te Anau and we reached Queenstown about 1900.
Looking down on the stream that cut 'the Chasm' taken from the footbridge crossing it.
The eroded rocks had unusual patterns as the softer rock has been worn away.
A vortex in the stream above the bridge; erosion has provided another path for the water to flow.
Everyone peering over the side of the bridge into the chasm.
Another shot of the stream as it begins its descent into the chasm.
Pat taking a shot of the other walkers on the bridge.
Nicky and Tom share a laugh.
Tree ferns.
The bus ahead of us entering the western end of the tunnel.
A view coming out of the eastern end of the tunnel.
Buttercups.
'Polly wants a cracker.' OK, I had to say it once. And this Polly probably wanted your entire lunch.
Stopping at an overlook, the Routeburn Track ran along and under the treeline on the ridge in the distance.
Jonathan taking a shot from the overlook.
Nicky dropped us off at the Novotel Gardens and we made our farewells to Tom, Pat, and Jim and expressed our gratitude to Nicky (and Brenda) for their efforts.
We dropped our stuff in the room and went looking for a restaurant, eventually deciding on "the 19th" - which was downstairs from the restaurant the night before - where we had an excellent meal and bottle of wine. We still haven’t figured out what we want to do with the two days we have, other than to relax for at least one of them. We’ll have to see what (if anything) moves us.