The south east corner of New Zealand’s South Island is occupied by a series of fjords – dramatic flooded glacier sculpted valleys. The only one of these to be properly accessible by road is the most northerly, Milford Sound. And in all fairness even Milford Sound takes a bit of effort to get to!
There aren’t many options for staying there once you do arrive either, so we checked into a motel in Te Anau, a small town on the second largest lake in New Zealand. This is the last stop before Milford Sound – the last trace of civilisation (i.e. petrol station) for the 120 km trek to the fjord itself! Te Anau is a pretty place, especially good for evening strolls as the sun sets over the mountains around the lake, but it is small. Unless you compare it to Milford village of course.
The 120 km drive to the fjord from Te Anau is spectacular. It starts along the shore of the lake before continuing down a huge glacier carved valley: dramatic mountainous snow capped cliffs on either side rising from the near flat valley floor. After passing a few more lakes the road then twisted up the side of a mountain to a new valley and followed it along – before rising to a flattened rocky area almost at the snowline. We inevitably had to wait for a while as the road plunged down through a steep tunnel through the mountain, a one-way tunnel with traffic lights set to a 15 minute delay! But at least there was plenty to keep us entertained: lots waterfalls cascading down the cliffs around and plenty of mountain Kia (intelligent New Zealand parakeets) playfully begging for food. After finally getting through the tunnel, the road then wound down the steep lower mountain slopes in a series of hairpin bends, past yet more dramatic waterfalls, to reach the forest below, and then finally to drop into Milford Sound itself.
The fjord is really beautiful – more dramatic cliff-mountains, this time half drowned in water, and even more dramatic waterfalls than any we’d yet seen en route. We wandered around parts of the shore that were actually accessible (the bits that weren’t cliff faces), and as the tide was out ventured out over the seaweed and pebbles usually covered by water. And we took lots and lots of photos!
Anyway, pretty though Milford may be, we are now moving on to Queenstown… which we are reliably informed is also very pretty! What a surprise! Queenstown is also the home of adventure tourism in New Zealand – you know jet boating, skydiving, bungee jumping, white water rafting. This should offer a nice change of pace.
There aren’t many options for staying there once you do arrive either, so we checked into a motel in Te Anau, a small town on the second largest lake in New Zealand. This is the last stop before Milford Sound – the last trace of civilisation (i.e. petrol station) for the 120 km trek to the fjord itself! Te Anau is a pretty place, especially good for evening strolls as the sun sets over the mountains around the lake, but it is small. Unless you compare it to Milford village of course.
The 120 km drive to the fjord from Te Anau is spectacular. It starts along the shore of the lake before continuing down a huge glacier carved valley: dramatic mountainous snow capped cliffs on either side rising from the near flat valley floor. After passing a few more lakes the road then twisted up the side of a mountain to a new valley and followed it along – before rising to a flattened rocky area almost at the snowline. We inevitably had to wait for a while as the road plunged down through a steep tunnel through the mountain, a one-way tunnel with traffic lights set to a 15 minute delay! But at least there was plenty to keep us entertained: lots waterfalls cascading down the cliffs around and plenty of mountain Kia (intelligent New Zealand parakeets) playfully begging for food. After finally getting through the tunnel, the road then wound down the steep lower mountain slopes in a series of hairpin bends, past yet more dramatic waterfalls, to reach the forest below, and then finally to drop into Milford Sound itself.
The fjord is really beautiful – more dramatic cliff-mountains, this time half drowned in water, and even more dramatic waterfalls than any we’d yet seen en route. We wandered around parts of the shore that were actually accessible (the bits that weren’t cliff faces), and as the tide was out ventured out over the seaweed and pebbles usually covered by water. And we took lots and lots of photos!
Anyway, pretty though Milford may be, we are now moving on to Queenstown… which we are reliably informed is also very pretty! What a surprise! Queenstown is also the home of adventure tourism in New Zealand – you know jet boating, skydiving, bungee jumping, white water rafting. This should offer a nice change of pace.
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