No Fixed Abode: New Zealand plays its trump card

Sat 9th January 2016 - Milford Sound

Up and away early for a full day today, cumulating in a cruise of Milford Sound and considering the rain pattern here is 2 out of every 3 days, we were blessed with a beautifully sunny day, clear blue skies and a moderate wind.

A short drive to The Divide, an area which houses all and sundry for the start of the Routeburn Track, one of the famous great walks in NZ that stops at huts in the mountains en route over 4-5 days, we, however, headed off for a 3 hour walk to Key Summit, which branches to give us spectacular views of the Fiordland National Park. Along the way we had the opportunity to follow a Nature Trail with a guide sheet available at the start and Yvonne brought to life the descriptive narrative at each of the numbered stopping places in her commentary to Glenn. The guide introduced us to Bladderwort and Gentian, alpine flowers that we noticed on the walk, along with the making of the landscape and glaciers carving out cirques, arêtes and hanging valleys. All a wonder to behold everywhere around us.

Remembering it was the last Saturday of the holiday period, on our route down we passed the summer hoards on their way up and thankful we made it up here earlier.

We had time to squeeze a walk to Humboldt Falls as it was only 25 minutes away from Milford Sound where our boat trip starts at 4pm. This was a short 30 minute walk through rainforest to see these impressive falls.

Then onwards, to hopefully, the highlight of the day. We drove along the Milford Highway for our end destination of Milford Sound, passing through the Fiordland National Park, a World Heritage Area. Every twist and turn along the route had us “wow”ing at the scenery. Breathtaking views abounded. Sheer rock faces, prolific waterfalls, mountain vistas, hanging valleys; they just kept coming.

The penultimate stage of the highway to Milford Sound takes you through an incredible feat of engineering, the Homer Tunnel which pierces the sheer rock to allow access to Milford Sound. Completed only in 1953, it is 1.2 km long and with one lane only it is controlled in peak periods with traffic lights which alternatively control in one direction for several minutes. We had a 6 minute wait so this gave Glenn time to stop and take plenty of photos and video of the scenery all around us.

The last leg continued to take us through spectacular scenery and we finally arrived at Milford Sound, essentially a visitor terminal for all the boats which go out through the Sound.

We had selected the last boat trip of the day, on one of the small boats. We noticed several other larger boats moored up and these typically offer either 2 -3 hour trips or overnight cruises with dinner along the Sound. Taking the last trip at 4.30pm meant we were the only boat to complete a full trip along the Sound, thankfully the bulk of the day tourists had been and gone.

We had come fully prepared with windproofs, hats and gloves. Our recent experiences here showed it is amazingly windy here. Of course as we boarded everyone dashed to the upper deck seating area taking every seat, however, we speculated on the return journey these people would have become very cold and gone downstairs to the seated lounge. With this in mind we both settled in the shelter from the wind at the back of the boat and enjoyed the views in the unusual sunny and dry weather.

And what views! This is where NZ plays it trump card. The Sound has sheer rock faces with cascading waterfalls, pretty vegetation, seals asleep on rocky outcrops, gulls diving in the water, dolphins following the boat. Natural beauty at every point of the compass. The boat went the full length of the Sound taking us right out to the Tasman Sea, where clearly we could see the next weather front rolling in. Rain due.

And as the boat turned to head home, as suspected the deck top passengers all retreated downstairs to the warm lounge and Glenn and I headed up top to enjoy the views with only a two other couples for the whole journey homewards. At one of the particularly large waterfalls the boat steered towards it for anyone brave or stupid enough to stand under the cascading water flow. No one did.

The return journey along the Northern side of the Sound was just as stunning. We spotted people out kayaking on the water, paddling furiously against the winds and choppy waters. They looked minute in comparison to the size of the Sound. We hope we are ready for this for our trip on Monday in Doubtful Sound!

We arrived back at the terminal around 6.30pm, a little chilled when a kind stranger from the boat offered us a lift back to the car park and camper. We had left the camper parked in full sun and what a delight to hop in a lovely warm van. We made our way back along the Milford Highway stopping at the camp area intended for 20 campers, Cascade Creek. When we arrived just before 8pm the volunteer taking our camp fees told us there were over 90 of us there tonight! A ready prepared chilli con carne and a brisk wind buffeting the campervan followed by rain showers set us up for an early night.