New Zealand - Milford Sound

I was a little slow of the mark next morning it heading off to Milford. This turned out to be slightly unfortunate as I found myself mixed in with the morning flow of coaches coming into Milford from further afield.

Still the drive from Te Anau to Milford was very attractive. The first part is fairly level, following valleys. There are a number of "tourist" stops on the way, including this one at Mirror Lake (which, unfortunately due to the wind was not particularly mirror-like when I stopped) - all rather mobbed by multiple coach loads.

Further on the road climbs up to the highest part of the journey, passing close to the snow line at this time of year (November). Saw a bunch of people from a coach apparently staring at nothing much, so of course I had to stop and see what was going on...

Turned out it was was this fellow that was attracting them (the little blighter just would not look at me directly!). These Kea parrots are pretty common at high altitudes in New Zealand - at least on the south island. They can be pretty destructive to property and tourists are discouraged from feeding them (with little obvious effect - I've never quite understood the mindset that will ignore obvious "don't feed the wildlife - it fills them" type signs and insists on feeding them the crap from their packed lunches. Ah well.

At the highest point of the journey you pass through the Homer Tunnel which is quite long and pretty basic. At the altitude it was pretty cold , though I just had to get out and kick some snow!

After the tunnel the road descends pretty steeply into Milford Sound. Unlike Doubtful Sound, I didn't spot a good place to stop and take a photo of the sound before arriving.

On my last visit to Milford I had joined a tour group that provided cycles - you rode downhill and when you came to a part that was uphill they packed the bikes back onto the mini-van and drove you uphill - a rather nice compromise for the not-so-fit! It was a really excellent way to see the area. Unfortunately it seems the outfit is no longer is in operation - or at least there was no information about them in the tourist office in Te Anau.

Here we see Mitre peak in the middle of the photograph - which is about 1 mile high from sea level to peak.

As I said, many people just get straight onto a boat for their 3 hour sail down the fjord. I decided that as I'd already done a boat trip on Milford on my last visit - and because I'd done that type of thing yesterday on Doubtful, not to bother. One option that did attract me - and is on my list for "maybe next time" was to take an overnight trip - you sleep overnight on a boat anchored down the sound somewhere, allowing you to see a bit of the fjord when most other people have returned to their hotels. It certainly sounds a lot more interesting than the straight boat trip!

As I had a bit of time on my hand I took a short walk alongside the fjord. Came across this waterfall (whose name now escapes me).

There were excellent views across the sound towards Mitre Peak and the boats coming and going with their passengers.

It was quite obvious from the trees that there is a prevailing wind in these parts! It was certainly a nice trip alongside the sound and gave a bit of a sense of being close to nature in Milford.

Returning to the dock I found the location of the ferry boat to the observatory. Most people visit the Observatory as part of their Milford Sound cruise. I was doing it as a stand-alone visit - and found that I had my own private cruiser for the short, 10 minute trip out to the Observatory.

Arriving by boat is the only way to the observatory, which is basically moored alongside the fjord side. The building is very misleading as much of it is (like an iceberg) underwater. Basically you descend into a lower area several metres underwater where you can observe the fish, vegetation and general topology of life in the first few metres of the sound.

Apparently because of the heavy rainfall and hence runoff into the sound, the top layer of the fjord is quite fresh water. This causes interesting differences in the type of fish which live in the top few metres and those lower down in the normal saline sea water.

Much to my surprise I found quite a lot of colourful sea life out the windows of the observatory. I also had the place to myself and that made it considerably more of an event than sharing it with a boat load of people. Took quite a few photos, but few notes, so I have no idea what this fish is!

The water and glass also gave everything a strong tint in the photos. However this was the highlight of my trip to Milford, and as I say, provided a surprising view of the underwater life in the sound. Definitely not to be missed!

Returning to shore, I somewhat reluctantly returned to my car and headed up out of Milford. Made a short stop at "The Chasm" - which was a short walk to a waterfall through the dense fern undergrowth.

Further on was another stop, simply called "The Viewpoint" which, as the name suggests, had a tremendous view out across a valley with snow capped (misty) mountains in the background.