Days 35–36: Milford Sound
Deeper than a bight and wider than a fjord
We were a bit lax when it came to booking our cruise of Milford Sound, but this ended up working out in our favour. It absolutely tipped it down on the day that we would have gone, and although the tour operators insist that “it’s still an excellent experience,” we were much happier with the sunshine we ended up with.
On the day that it rained, we didn’t get up to much. We’re really not equipped for bad weather so we passed the day in the van, in a cafe, and at a campsite where we had a lovely hot shower. I got caught up on some of the blogs, and we did a bit of planning for the next few days, but other than that, it just tipped it down.
The next day is when the fun began. As I mentioned, we booked onto a cruise of Milford Sound. It’s pretty far from anywhere so it was a proper day trip to get there and back.
We made sure we were topped up on fuel — no petrol stations for a few hundred kilometres — and hit the road. The route out to Milford Sound is one of the most scenic routes in the country with plenty of places to stop off at on the way. However, we were getting an early cruise so we flew past all of the sights on the outbound trip and saved them for the return journey. Besides, it was so misty in the morning that we could barely see the car in front of us at times, let alone any of the lakes or mountain ranges.
We arrived at Milford Sound, parked up, suffered copious numbers of sandflies while we waited for the park and ride, and just made it in time to catch our boat, despite leaving ourselves an extra forty minutes when we set off. It was a close one, but we ran up to the boat with a minute to spare which I guess you could argue was bang on time.
I didn’t actually know what a sound was so I Googled it for the sake of this blog. It turns out that…
a sound is a large sea or ocean inlet, deeper than a bight and wider than a fjord.
I feel like this definition is only really useful if you already know how deep a bight is and how wide a fjord is, but I’ll leave you to Google those. All we knew before going was that it was a must-do trip and it involved a cruise.
The cruise took us on an hour and a half round trip out to the entrance of the sound — where it meets the Tasman Sea — and back again.
Because of the heavy rainfall the day before, there were a lot of temporary waterfalls coming into the sound from the surrounding cliffs.
Besides the temporary falls, Milford Sound is home to two permanent waterfalls. Stirling Falls…
And Bowen Falls…
We also came across another decent-sized waterfall shaped like an ‘S’, but I have no idea if it has a name or not.
One of the other main attractions in the sound was Mitre Peak — named so because it looks a bit like the shape of a mitre that bishops wear.
Apparently, it’s actually the second tallest mountain in the world if you measure its base on the sea bed.
We saw a few seals lounging about on the rocks, but for the most part, we just tried not to get too cold on the top deck whilst enjoying the scenery.
The cruise did err slightly on the side of being too touristy for my liking, but it was the only way to see the sound so it’s to be expected.
The drive back from Milford Sound was when we took the time to stop — many times — and see the various sights along the route.
I had a hard time choosing a photo to show the kinds of places we were driving through so I’ll just show you a few of them…
At one point, the road took us through a tunnel that passes straight through the mountain. It must have taken some beasty drills to cut it out, and it obviously makes getting to Milford Sound possible, but it’s only one lane wide and the lights turned red just as we pulled up to it!
Our first stop on the return journey was The Chasm. It’s a waterfall that has been carved out of the rocks over thousands of years.
The curved gouges in the rock are created when stones get caught in grooves where they then get washed around and around by the river, effectively acting as a pestle and mortar that slowly widens the groove.
Next, we stopped off to check out a roadside waterfall. I can’t seem to find out if it has a name, but it was cool and the river running alongside the road on the other side was also photo-worthy.
Moving on, we came to the Hollyford Valley Lookout. The valleys we saw from there were actually carved out by a glacier — as was pretty much the whole Fiordland region — and they mark where an ancient glacier split and forked into several new glaciers.
Driving on a bit further, we came to the Mirror Lakes. Before showing you those though, I want to show you this little guy…
You may or may not remember that I had a photo of the same type of bird in a previous post and was amazed at how close it came to us. Well, this one was no different. It also let me get really close to take the photo, and after a quick Google, I found out that it’s a South Island Robin.
New Zealand has three types of robin: North Island, South Island, and Stewart Island, and the information online even said that “they are friendly and trusting, often coming to within a couple of metres of people.” So we came across another native bird without even realising it!
Anyway, the Mirror Lakes. They were created when the river changed course and left behind pools of water.
I’m not sure that Mirror Lakes is the best name for them given that we couldn’t see any reflections, but maybe we caught them at the wrong time of day. They were definitely very clear though.
Finally, we came to the last two stops. Eglinton Valley…
And Lake Te Anau…
After the long day of driving, we arrived back in Lumsden — with significantly less fuel — and camped for the night in the free site there.
