Milford Sound
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| Today we were driving to Milford Sound -- one of the trip highlights. But it was overcast and rainy. I thought the day might be a total bust. But like flying, you have to stick your nose in it and give it a shot. So we got in the car and headed north along Lake Te Anau and back into the Southern Alps. |
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We stopped at a big alpine meadow surrounded by mountains and clouds.
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| As we climbed higher, the vegetation on the mountains disappeared. |
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| Waterfall down rock walls. |
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To give you some idea how massive these mountains are, that is Lynnette at the bottom -- red arrow pointing to her.
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| To get over the summit, we had to go through Homer Tunnel, which literally goes through the bottom of a huge rock mountain. |
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| Homer Tunnel is not like the tunnels we are used to here in the States. The interior is unfinished, it is one lane, and it is very dark. (Picture courtesy of Wikipedia) |
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| Amazingly, on the other side there was blue sky and sunlight! |
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| We stopped to see a raging river and shaped rocks in the rain forest. |
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The water had carved wild patterns into the rock.
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| And then we were at Milford Sound. There isn't much to it as far as infrastructure. They have an airport, pictured below, a nice cruise boat terminal, and then a compound for the workers. But nothing in the way of restaurants, motels, stores, gas stations. They advise you to fill your car's gas tank before leaving Te Anau. |
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During good weather, sightseeing flights are available from Queenstown and Wanaka that will fly you here and then fly you back after a scenic cruise.
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| Our first look at Milford Sound. It's easy to understand why this is a required event in any New Zealand vacation. |
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| Our cruise boat. |
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| Underway. There were only 20 people on the entire boat which was nice. |
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Passing a waterfall on our way out. Another cruise boat heads in. There were four or five competing cruise boat lines.
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Look how tiny that cruise boat looks compared to the mountains.
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Lynnette and Maggie hanging out inside the cabin.
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| Milford Sound is like Yosemite, only filled with water! |
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| The Captain pulled the boat right up to Seal Rock. They like to sprawl out in the sun on the hot rock. |
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| The New Zealand flag. The four stars on the right represent the Southern Cross. Which Karen at the Fox Glacier Mountainview B&B pointed out to us. |
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Turning around at the point where Milford Sound meets the Tasman Sea. If we had kept going for another 1,000 miles or so, we would have reached Australia.
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We approached another waterfall.
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The Captain brought the boat almost directly under the falls.
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Still a little snow left up high.
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| Back in the car, this is the mountain that we have to go through via Homer Tunnel. It looks even larger from this side. |
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Waiting on traffic coming from the other direction.
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| The drive back to Te Anau and then on to Queenstown was uneventful. The day turned out pretty well! |
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