And how right this warning turned out to be. It took us about 3.5 hours to get to Milford Sound. But before I get ahead of myself here's some of the incredible sights on the way...
The perfect reflections of the mirror lakes....
The approach to the Homer tunnel....basically there's a steep granite mountain that blocks the way to Milford Sound, so the New Zealanders blasted their way through- it only took 30 years!! Initially the Homer tunnel was a project designed to provide employment during the depression but it turned out to be much more work than anyone imagined...The first half of the road to Milford is fairly standard NZ scenery- lush farmland, rainforest, pine plantations, the Lake of course, and lots of sheep. But it begins to change once the road winds onto the Eglington river valley. Suddenly, as you enter the Fiordland National Park, there are steep snow-capped mountains rising up on either side and the thick forest arches over the road creating a claustrophobic atmosphere. There is no farmland anymore, only forest, and grassland on the valley floor.
On the other side of the tunnel, however, it's a whole new world. There are numerous avalanches, icefalls and treefalls. The rivers and creeks are narrow and fast-flowing. The bends in the road are sharper and there are ominous "NO STOPPING- AVALANCHE ZONE" warnings everywhere. Steep granite walls rise up all around whilst fog covers the valley floor. The roar of the rivers is surpassed in volume only by the procession of tourist buses. As the road winds down towards Milford, the vegetation only seems to get thicker, just like the heavy morning mist.
At Milford Sound, we decided to join a kayaking group and see the Sound up close, as it was a dry, warm day (by Fiordland standards of course). It turned out to be a brilliant decision because no sooner had we pushed our kayaks into the water that we were greeted by a family of bottlenose dolphins. In between large servings of whitebait, the dolphins frollicked around our kayaks, coming much closer to us than we would dare go to them. As we paddled further out into Milford Sound, we passed by some of the area's permanent waterfalls, as well as sites of old treefalls, a fairly common occurence on the steep, densely wooded sloped.
After a quick lunch on the water, we were headed across to the northern bank when we came across a group of penguins, also after whitebait. Unfortunately, penguins are not as trusting of humans as dolphins. We had to keep our distance because the penguins were very shy and would swim away quickly if we came too close....
On the rocks of the northern bank of Milford Sound, we found a whole bunch of NZ fur seals. Apparently they like to bask in the sun during the day and hunt fish at night!! That sounds a bit bizarre to me, but thats what the locals said. These seals are lazy!! They just sit there and stretch and yawn and sleep. But at least they're completely unfazed by humans. We were able to get really close to these seals, only one seal even flinched, and even he went back to his nap almost immediately.
As we headed back to the harbour, passing thru Bowen falls, we were all incredibly sore. Kayaks are a great way to see Milford Sound, but they're not gentle on your back and legs. It was great day out on the water, with more to come on the next day....
We woke up to a stormy sky- everything was shades of grey. The heavens had opened up and it was pouring down....not what you want on your holiday. Unless you're going on a Milford Sound cruise!!! The clouds and the rain brought the whole place to life. There were waterfalls everywhere you looked. The permanent waterfalls had all doubled and tripled in size. The wind whipped the fog into a frenzy creating marvellous visual effects with the mountains in the background.
As the cruiseboat headed out to sea, we began to feel the full brunt of the weather conditions. The cold, stinging rain drove everyone inside and the boat rocked ominously. But this is definitely the best way to see Milford Sound, from outside in. You can really appreciate the steepness of the mountains that seemingly arise directly from the Tasman Sea. It is easy to see why numerous sailors including James Cook missed Milford Sound on their journeys down New Zealand's west coast- the inlet curves sharply to the north, the first of many curves.
On the way back, we stopped by a few more waterfalls with some people opting to get drenched. Then it was smooth sailing all the way back into the harbour....
[The only downside of Milford Sound was the sandfly bites- they're really painful, and itchy for days afterwards. We'd been talking about getting repellant for days beforehand but never got around to it. If your going to Milford Sound, the two things you should not forget are your camera and insect repellant!!]
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