Today was Milford Sound Day. When you see images of NZ this is one of the iconic places you always see. It is part of a larger area called Fjordland covering about 1/3rd of the Southern Island (Southwest corner). I believe it is one of the largest National Parks in the world. The area is composed primarily of Fjords which are difficult to reach, with Milford being the only one accessible by road. There is understandable confusion when it comes to the name here. It is called Milford Sound yet located in Fjordland. To those of you who were not paying attention in 5th grade science class; A Sound is carved by rivers, while a Fjord is carved by glaciers. The people that named it Milford Sound incorrectly guessed the origin, but the name had stuck by that point. So to be accurate it should be called Milford Fjord.
No that we got that cleared up, let's get back to the day's activities. I had an hours drive to get to the ferry station. I was winding through the mountains passing beautiful scenes straight out of Lord of Rings. We should also address the elephant in the room. I am not a particularly strong LOTR fan so there will be no stops where I reference movie sets. There are tons of them out there, both sets and extreme fans, which dozens of travel books indicated their location. I could only imagine if these sets locations were in America. There would be billboards everywhere. Inflatable Hobbits beckoning you to exit now before it's too late!
I had not been in touch with my family but I assumed they knew I was ok because they had my itinerary and they could track my online with my locator beacon. Although there was the chance that someone killed me, stole my beacon, and decided to continue on with my set itinerary.
As I got closer to the sound/fjord it got a bit more tropical
I came out of a tunnel through the mountain and saw a whole ecosystem below me
Apparently the sound had its own weather and received about 7 meters more of rain each year than the rest of the country. Below are some shots of the Kea bird. It is actually a part of the parrot family. These ones are way too comfortable around humans. This guy climbed up on top of cars and was ripping at cables and communication wires like a mad scientist
Finally I arrived. I had beat what was left of the tourists in the late season by arriving before noon. I was able to get on a cruise right away, which including a narration from a local Naturalist.
Now the narrator said this never happens, but we were blessed with a pod of dolphins cruising along with our boat. I was jealous of the kayakers in the water. The dolphins were jumping all around them and as they tried to create a wake by working their paddles overtime, the dolphins fell inline behind them.
At one point we pulled under a waterfall feed by glaciers and the boat put glasses on the bow to collect the runoff. It tasted pretty pure, but I kept back and let the others get the Niagra Falls experience out on deck
We got out of the sound/fjord and into the Tasman Sea which separates NZ from Australia. It got choppy and I don’t do well in choppy. We turned back before I lost my breakfast.
A couple of fur seals chilling on the rocks
I was a little disappointed that the weather was a bit overcast. You could not see the peaks of mountains that were so mesmerizing in pictures. And on cue, the clouds burned off and luck was on my side again.
I got off the cruise thankful that I paid the $80 and headed back towards Te Anau. One more shot of the killer Kea walking down the line of cars looking for handouts as I waited to enter the one lane tunnel. At least clean my windshield or something.
I took a side road for a brief waterfall hike and came through this tunnel of ferns.
220
The walls of the rainforest are covered with Silver Ferns. It is the national flag of New Zealand. It is also the logo of the most famous rugby team in the world, The All Blacks. Rugby is a religion down here. There are multiple leagues representing territories and cities at various levels. Every school has a rugby pitch and kids in sandlots are tossing a rugby ball rather than smacking home runs. It is hard not to get swept up in the excitement of the sport.
I hit a short waterfall trail before returning to the main road.
Ok, now is when we discuss this idea of the "Great Walks" There are 9 multiday hikes in NZ that are good enough to be called Great. There are 5 on the south island, 3 on the north island and 1 on Stewart island, a small island south of me. To hike multi-day in NZ is called "tramping" I was going to do my best to hit as many of the 5 on the south island as I could. Here is an image of their location
Image of Great Walks
And here is a great link to learn and watch videos of each of the Great Walks.
I will mention here that I did not hit the North Island on this trip because it seemed to be more cosmopolitan and the natural scene was more geothermal/ volcanic as opposed to the alpine features of the south.
It just so happened that one of these hikes, the Routeburn Track ended along the road to the Milford Sound. As you can see on the bottom left of the attached map PDF below where it says "Divide"
I planned on hiking up to the Key Summit. It was maybe a couple hours up (2K feet) up and half that time coming back.
Unlike my time in Canada where I carried bear spray and a large knife, here I had little to fear. The largest native mammal is the bat, and other then some sheep and feral pigs running around I was pretty safe.
I got back to the same camp from last night and was smelling ripe. I motivated myself to dive in the lake and covered myself in soap to make sure I was pot committed. It was cold but invigorating. Tomorrow was a big hike along the Kepler track
Until Tomorrow
Darren
« “See You on the Flip Side” (New Zealand 4 of 11) | Main | “See You on the Flip Side” (New Zealand 6 of 11) »
