with Dobbs
Rudyard Kipling described the South Island’s Milford Sound as the
eighth wonder of the world. The sound owes some of its allure to the 23
feet (7 meters) of rain that falls here each year, nourishing lush
grasses and forests.
Via National Geographic.
After completing our boat tour through beautiful Milford Sound on New Zealand’s South Island, my wife and I walked back to the car park where our campervan awaited us. At the car park we took one last look at Milford Sound:
The tide was out quite a bit compared to early in the morning, but another big difference compared to earlier in the morning was how the top of the mountains, such as Mitre Peak were not shrouded in clouds:
After taking in our last view of Milford Sound, we headed back up Highway 94 to Te Anau where we once again planned to spend the night. Unlike when we drove to Milford Sound early in the morning, the valley on the west side of the highway was no longer shrouded in clouds:
Like most other roads on the South Island, Highway 94 had its fair share of these dangerous one land bridges:
By this time the tour buses from Queenstown were arriving for afternoon boat tours which made these bridges extra dangerous. At least there was no trains running across these bridges as well, compared to other bridges we had to cross on the South Island.
Since the weather was clear and we still had day light to use, we decided to stop and complete a short hike along the way before returning to Te Anau:
We pulled into a dirt carpark that was dwarfed by a massive peak with a number of large waterfalls cascading off the side of it:
The trail we decided to hike is known as The Chasm:
This quote from David Thoreau is especially true in New Zealand’s Fiordland area that is just filled with incredible glacier carved mountains and fiords. The trail initially passed through some thick native New Zealand rainforest:
After having hiked through many rainforests in Australia, New Zealand’s rainforests are no where near as impressive as the ones that can be found across the Tasman Sea in Australia. However, they are still quite beautiful and no where in Australia are their mountains peaks that can match those found in New Zealand. The trail continued across a bridge that spans a wild river that flows down the side of the mountain:
The actual “Chasm” that this river creates through the rock was actually not that impressive:
It was still a nice walk through the rainforest and the hike to the Chasm is only about an hour round trip and can be completed by anyone. We actually completed our walk just in time because a tour bus pulled up and a hoard of people greeted us as we walked by to our campervan. Someone else that greeted us back at our campervan was a Kea bird:
We had saw one these guys back at the Te Anau Wildlife Centre but this was the first one we had seen in the wild. This guy was not intimidated by us at all and by looking into his eyes I could just tell how intelligent this bird is:
The Kea just seemed to be sizing us up and even walked around our campervan checking things at. Fortunately he didn’t let the air out of our tires as these birds are well known for doing. The Kea actually spent about a good 10 minutes checking us out before finally flying off.
From the carpark we then continued up the highway that was becoming increasingly surrounded by extremely rugged mountains that had numerous waterfalls flowing down them:
Highway 94 then climbs up the valley to a point where we had to wait in a long line in order to wait our turn to pass through the Homer Tunnel. While we were waiting in the que to pass through the tunnel we got to enjoy and incredibly scenic view back down the valley we had just drove up:
The que of cars eventually moved forward and the light turned red on us again before we could pass through the tunnel:
We spent a total of about 30 minutes waiting to pass through this tunnel and when the light finally did turn green, this time we were the first one through the tunnel:
Traveling through the tunnel was just as hair raising as when we drove through it in the morning time. There has been talk about widening this tunnel but the cost of doing so is something that prevents any tunnel widening from happening.
We were glad when we finally got through the tunnel and the high peaks on the east end of the tunnel came into view:
Looking at these peaks, it was easy to imagine the giant avalanches that must cascade down these steep slopes in the winter time:
From the tunnel the road increased in evaluation a bit that offered views of the rugged mountains in this area:
These mountains almost looked liked sharpened teeth as they pointed to the sky:
Highway 94 eventually entered the fog shrouded valley we had crossed earlier that morning which look quite different with bright late afternoon sunlight:
After passing through the wide valley Highway 94 once again ran adjacent to Lake Te Anau which meant we would soon be back to spend the night at the local campervan park:
By the time we got back to Te Anau our low fuel light on our campervan actually came on which is an indication of how many kilometers we drove that day just to get to Milford Sound and back. It was a really long day, but we had an absolutely great time and grilled our last steaks that night to celebrate what was quickly becoming the end of our tour of New Zealand.
Next Posting: The International Antarctic Centre in Christchurch
Prior Posting: Video of the Wildlife of Milford Sound
Here are some short video clips of some of the wildlife we saw during our visit to Milford Sound New Zealand:
Next Posting: The Road Back to Te Anau
Prior Posting: Video of Milford Sound Boat Tour
Here are four short video clips from various parts of the boat tour through New Zealand’s beautiful Milford Sound.
Next Posting: Wildlife of Milford Sound
Prior Posting: Milford Sound, New Zealand – Part 2
As the tour boat my wife and I were on turned around and re-entered into Milford Sound the ruggedness of the terrain became more evident as the clouds had mostly departed exposing most of the high rocky peaks that surround the sound:
Also as we re-entered the sound it was easy to understand why early explorers of New Zealand such as Captain James Cook were afraid to enter the sound. Cook was afraid to enter the sound because he feared crashing into the steep mountain sides along with being unable to receive a strong wind to pilot his ship back out of the sound.
Here is a Google Earth image that shows the topography of the terrain surrounding Milford Sound that so concerned Captain Cook:
However, someone that is unafraid to enter the sound are the large colony of sea lions that call Milford Sound home:
As we traveled further into the sound we saw even more sea lions sun bathing on a nearby rock:
The captain of the ship actually brought the ship extremely close to this rock and we spent about 20 minutes near the rock watching the sea lions. The sea lions mostly just sat there sound asleep like this guy here:
However, a couple of them appeared to not like each other too much and fought each other for quite some time:
After checking out the sea lions the boat continued to travel further back into the sound and more and more of those steep hillsides that were obscured with clouds earlier in the day made for some quite spectacular scenery once their cloudy shrouds were removed:
We also got another look at the gigantic waterfall we saw earlier in the boat tour on the way out to sea:
The captain of the boat eventually brought the boat right to the base of the waterfall:
Since my wife and I were sitting outside on the very front of the boat we got a bit wet and I was unable to take any pictures due to the splashing water. This waterfall was quite large and Milford Sound is known to support waterfalls that can reach a thousand meters in length.
As the boat traveled further into the sound, the large peak that rises adjacent to the Milford Sound village came into view. If you look closely you can see the waterfall near the village on the lower left of the below image:
To our North we could see a dock where the captain of our boat said was the beginning of a trail that ascends up the adjacent valley:
Judging by the surrounding terrain, the hiking in this area must just be absolutely tremendous and reason enough for me to come back to this area again some day. There is plenty of magnificent terrain features around Milford Sound, but without a doubt the most striking feature of the sound is the world famous Mitre Peak:
When many people think of New Zealand the first image that comes to mind is often the pyramid shaped 1,692 meter (5,300 ft) Mitre Peak overlooking Milford Sound. We could not see this peak earlier in the day due to the cloud cover on its summit, but now that it was free of its clouds, it was an extremely impressive sight to see:
Here is overhead Google Earth image of this pyramid shaped peak:
The pyramid shape of Mitre Peak is actually what gives the peak its name because it looks like the mitre head wear that Christian bishops wear. Looking the opposite direction from Mitre Peak, the coast line of the Milford Sound village came into view, which meant our boat tour would soon come to an end:
As we neared the shore line the waterfall that flows near the Milford Sound village came into view:
This waterfall is not as large as the one we saw towards the middle of the sound from the boat but still large enough to impress;
The boat captain actually told us that this waterfall has a hydroelectric generator installed that provides for all the energy needs for the small Milford Sound village:
After cruising by the waterfall our boat then pulled into the pier to end the tour:
As we deboarded the boat my wife and I took in one last view of Milford Sound from the pier before heading back to our campervan back at the car park:
This iconic view is stunning no matter how many times we would look at it. Truly one of the world’s great geographic wonders that anyone visiting New Zealand should definitely see for themselves.
Next Posting: Video of Milford Sound Boat Tour
Prior Posting: Milford Sound, New Zealand – Part 1
After completing the drive on Highway 94 from Te Anau to beautiful Milford Sound on New Zealand’s South Island, my wife and I walked over to the port facility to sign up for a boat tour of the sound. At the port there was a variety of boat tours available and we decided to take one of the smaller boats out onto the beautiful waters of Milford Sound:
Our boat only had about 20 people on it which is actually quite small compared to the larger boats that can fit well over 100 people on them. My wife and I sat outside on the very front of the boat in order to get the full Milford Sound experience. It was freezing cold outside, but my wife and I didn’t mind because of the incredible scenery we were surrounded by such as the gigantic glacier carved cliffs that descended into the water around us:
Often time small waterfalls could be seen cascading down the sides of these massive rock walls from the snow melting on the peaks above:
However, not all the waterfalls were small such as this large waterfall that flowed into the sound far in front of us:
Milford Sound is part of the Fiordland National Park and the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage area. With the spectacular scenery we were surrounded by it is easy to understand why the sound is New Zealand’s top tourist destination and one of the most desirable travel destinations in the whole world.
Here is how this top travel destination looks like from above on Google Earth:
From the port facility the sound is approximately 15 kilometers long and as our boat reached the further reaches of the sound the terrain began to be less extreme with rolling hills replacing the massive glacier carved peaks:
On one of these rolling hills, the captain of our boat spotted a penguin:
This penguin known as a Fiordland Crested Penguin that is native to only Southwest New Zealand:
The Fiordland crested penguin stands about 40cm and weighs around 4 kilograms. The head, throat and upperparts are black and underparts are white. The sulphur-yellow crest starts at the base of the base of the bill, extends over the eye and droops down the back of the head. Adults often have white stripes on the cheeks, juveiles have a shorter crest and pale cheeks. [Penguin.net.nz]
After checking out the penguin our boat continued towards the opening of the sound. Once we reached the opening the rolling hills to the North that crashed into the adjacent ocean reminded me a bit of Australia’s Great Ocean Road:
Looking South there was a small rock outcropping that the captain of the ship said that seals will occassionally relax on, though there wasn’t any now:
After the boat turned around to go back into the sound, we began to have some great views of the gigantic peaks that surround Milford Sound that we had a hard time seeing before because of the earlier cloud cover:
Most of the large peaks that surround this sound are over 1,000 meters tall with the tallest peak known as the Elephant reaching to 1,517 meters (4,977 ft). As boat continued back through the sound the views of these dramatic peaks would only become better.
Next Posting: Milford Sound, New Zealand – Part 2
Prior Posting: Highway 94 to Milford Sound
The next day after finishing our tour around Lake Te Anau, my wife and I woke up early, loaded up our campervan, and headed up to the legendary Milford Sound. The sound is located 121 kilometers North of Te Anau:
This Google Earth image gives a pretty good indication of how steep and rugged the terrain between Te Anau and Milford Sound is that New Zealand State Highway 94 has to pass through:
If traveling from Queenstown it is a long 279 kilometers away, but that still doesn’t stop most of the tourists visiting the sound from doing so from Queenstown. In fact 80% of the tourists visiting the sound are day trippers from Queenstown.
Some of the people we talked to at our caravan park told us to leave first thing in the morning to go to Milford Sound because if we arrived in the afternoon the odds are that the sound will be obscured with clouds. They told us the morning is the best time to go to get unobscured views of Milford Sound. They told us however to never drive the road to Milford Sound in the darkness because it is an extremely dangerous road. Who are we to argue with the locals?
Thus my wife and I took off from Te Anau in the early morning twilight and made sure to make a stop to watch the sun rise over Lake Te Anau before entering into the mountainous pass to Milford Sound:
As we drove up Highway 94 to Milford Sound from Lake Te Anau the road entered a long and wide valley:
Here is how this valley looks on Google Earth:
The early morning fog made some spectacular photographs on the valley’s floor:
It was easy to picture in my mind the large glacier that must have flown down from these rocky slopes to have carved this wide flat valley, similar to Franz Josef and Fox Glacier valleys my wife and I had seen before:
As we continued down Highway 94 the road eventually passed one the lakes left by the melting waters of the glacier that once passed through here, Lake Gunn:
Here is a Google Earth image of the highway as it passes along the side of Lake Gunn:
Just North of Lake Gunn Highway 94 makes a sharp turn to the West as seen in this Google Earth image:
A short ways down the highway the road passes through what is known as the Homer Tunnel:
The road through the tunnel was primitive and mostly dirt, not very wide, and extremely dark. In fact traffic through the tunnel is one way only and cars have to wait on each side for the light to turn green before proceeding. The tunnel is named after William H. Homer who discovered this route to Milford Sound with another gentleman by the name of George Barber in 1889, one year after Quintin MacKinnon forged the Milford Track in 1888.
Construction of the tunnel began in 1935 and wasn’t completed until nearly 20 years later in 1954. The tunnel is 1270 meters long and actually runs at a slope of 1:10 gradient through the mountain. This was easily the scariest tunnel my wife and I have ever driven through. Here is a Google Earth image of where Highway 94 enters into the mountain where Homer Tunnel is located:
Once we passed through the tunnel we entered a world of steep cliffs, heavy fog, and rain:
Even though we couldn’t see it, this how the terrain looks from above once outside the Homer Tunnel:
We actually could not see a thing until we pulled into Milford Sound. At Milford Sound most of the mountains had a cloak of clouds hiding them:
If you are wondering, yes that is our campervan pictured above. Anyway since there wasn’t much to see my wife and I went and checked out the visitor center and got ourselves a cup coffee at the cafe there:
The village of Milford Sound is very small and consists of little more then a hotel, visitor center, a small petrol station with extremely expensive petrol, and the port. After seeing the sky high petrol prices there, we were glad we filled up the campervan prior to leaving Te Anau:
After we came back out of the cafe it was about 8:00 AM and the skies began to clear up a bit exposing the tops of some of the peaks:
We walked down to the water edge and were in awe and the landscape before us:
Rudyard Kipling when he visited Milford Sound called it the Eighth Wonder of the World because he was so impressed by its beauty. For comparisons sake, here is a picture of what the sound looks like on a clear winter’s day:
I don’t know if it is the Eighth Wonder of the World or not, but it sure was impressive and worthy of getting a picture in front of:
Here is something I was quite surprised about and you will not read about in a New Zealand travel brochure. Milford Sound is infested with sand flies. It was hard to stand still for this picture because of the sand flies that were swarming around me. Definitely bring some bug repellant to combat these things with because it was something we did not bring and could have really used. We would later find out during our boat tour that the reason the Maori did not permanently inhabit Milford Sound was because of these sand flies. So that gives you an indication of how bad they are.
Anyway from the visitor center area of Milford Sound we walked over to the port to book a boat tour that morning. The port is a short walk from the actual village of Milford Sound and from the port we able to get a good view of how small the village actually is:
What you see in the above picture is all there is to the Milford Sound village. We then entered the port facility which looked really new to book a boat tour that morning. Fortunately we had beat the day tripping tour bus crowd to the sound thus leaving the port virtually deserted except for a few people. There is actually is a variety of tours to sign up for from small boats to extremely huge boats that are all docked at the pier:
We decided to take one of the smaller boats and even on the smaller boat it was no where near capacity and only had about 20 people max on it. It was quite cold out on the water but my wife and I sat outside right on the very front of the boat because the Milford Sound experience was one that we have saved for last on our New Zealand itinerary and we just want to just suck in the experience of traveling through these beautiful natural wonder.
Next Posting: Milford Sound – Part 1
Prior Posting: Around Lake Te Anau
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