Road to Milford Sound and Fiordland

Blog 23:

The Road to Milford Sound - Farm land changes dramatically and a road journey extraordinaire!

Today is a long long travel day (around 300km - 180 miles). Jacky's research reveals that it could be sheep day, oh I do hope so. NZ's biggest export and I have seen only a handful thus far. 

We are going to Milford Sound on the west coast - the most northerly fiord in Fiordland, the largest of the four National Parks that make up the Southwest NZ World Heritage Area. In total these four adjoining Parks of protected outstanding beauty cover around 17000 square miles or 10% of NZ's land mass - that's a huge slice of this country and putting it in perspective that is twice the size of Israel. Te Wahipounamu meaning "the place of the greenstone" is the Maori name given to these rawest of wilderness mountains and temperate rain forests which lead eventually and spectacularly to the Tasman Sea.  

Southern end of Lake Wakitipu

I am very excited about this trip It will be a challenging day for both car and driver and indeed the Navigator who has to sit there gripping her seat around some blind bends and very tricky hills. Rain is forecast as well which will not help at all!

Kingston Flyer Station

We set off early as we want to follow Lake Wakitipu to its southern end and go and see the old steam locomotive and station at Kingston. This rail line used to link Queenstown Lake via the Steam ships with the farming communities transporting sheep and timber and coal to and from Invercargill and onto Dunedin in the south and east.  It ceased as a main line service some years back and is now a private railway chugging up and down through the farmland a few stops south. Prior to the late 1800's this place was the site of a large Maori settlement. Kingston is named after a town in Ireland by the Irish miners who worked here, although most streets are named after English towns and counties.

What a big boy!

The weather is deteriorating and the clouds are gathering, it would be a great shame if we cannot get the wonderful mountain and valley views that should welcome us to Fiordland. We initially drive through what is called the Northern Southland, an area of ancient glacial moraines, with many dips and rises as the road crosses them. We pass through Athol, reputed to provide the best Brown Trout fishing ground in the world…. If I mention a Hares Ear trailed by a size 14 or 16 Pheasant Tail or Flash Back does that mean anything to you? What about a Single Nymph or Small Adams, Parachute Adams or Dads favourite? I like a nice Royal Wulff or a Humpie myself- You have no idea what I am waffling

on about have you - There is certainly something very fishy going on around here.

This road between Kingston in the north and Mossburn and Lumsden in the south, was the main stage coach and horse transport route before the steam engine. It has many fine stage posts and homesteads along this route but unfortunately we had no time to stop and look today. We needed to get to Te Anau, the gateway town to the Milford Highway leading to the famous Homer Tunnel by mid afternoon. We also wanted time to stop at view points along the road that ran alongside Lake Te Anea the second largest lake in NZ. The rain continues to fall and it's difficult to keep concentrating on the long straight stretches of road which just seem to go on forever.

More sheep on a rainy day

It's sheep at last!

Then it just appeared, a field of sheep, many sheep and then another field - we were indeed in the middle of ranches and farming. This is the first time I have seen this type of landscape and that is surprising after a few thousand kilometres driving on both islands. I had at last seen my favourite animal and still the back bone of the Kiwi economy (Is that a DKT pun?). I was very happy and even in the rain this was a place of peaceful beauty. Also grown here is (acres of) a special feed grass that is renowned the world over called 'chewings fescue'..

"Chewings Fescue" grass

 We finally reach Te Anau and fill Nancy up with petrol for there are now no more fill up stations anywhere on this last remote 119km (but today a sealed road) called simply and unromantically the Milford Sound Road. We also have to return the same way so we will leave exploring Te Anua till tomorrow. Only having one way in and out, it is said that this road isn't just a journey it's a destination in itself. It will be two and a half hours minimum of zig zag and mountain bends and that is without any allowance for pit stops or walks so we had better get going. Its still raining and I need to keep concentrating. Nancy is purring away and I think she is quietly enjoying herself.

Milford Track

Te Anau has an international reputation as being the 'walking capital of the world' with the four day Milford and the 36 mile circular Kepler Tracks especially recognised as two of the finest walks anywhere on the planet. The 30 mile Milford track takes in the spectacular Sutherland Falls the World's 5th highest with a water cascade of 580 metres. Thats quite a drop of water from Lake Quill at its head. Another world recognised acclaim is that the Milford Track has the accolade of the finest loo with a view! 

Murcheson Range & Lake Te Anau

The Fiordland National Park is opening up before us with Lake Te Anua on our left and the remote Murchison Mountain range as the back drop. This Lake is NZ's second largest and is over 400m deep. The Mountains are home to a very rare flightless bird which was thought to be extinct at the end of the 19th century.

The flightless Takahe 

The Takahe with its blue and green plumage and short heavy reddish legs (no its not my mate 'Howler Monkey' Gordon in drag). A small colony was rediscovered by a bird watcher in 1948 and after a successful breeding programme on a couple of bird sanctuary islands there are now thankfully a few more Takahe to see in the Mountains and in local wildlife sanctuaries.  and pics of Lake Te Anau...

Mirror Lake is aptly named

The Mirror Lake (called a tarn) with the Earl Mountains in the distance is outstanding and even in the rain gives a view which takes minutes to sink in. I can only reiterate what the author of the book 'Mountains of Water' said when he described this stunning UNESCO heritage park. "A cherished corner of the world where mountains and valleys compete with each other for room, where scale is beyond comprehension, rainfall is measured in metres and scenery encompasses the broadest width of emotions". 

Raining hard at Mirror Lake

    The bird life here includes the 

Alpine Parrot - Kea

alpine parrot Kea which can be seen sometimes sliding down the windscreens of parked cars or perching on open windows; they are cheeky playful birds but don't feed them or they will never leave you alone. The world's heaviest parrot the Kakapo is also only seen in this National Park, extremely rare now with only about 80 left, mostly on the off shore bird sanctuary of Cod Fish Island. 

The Blue Duck

I however might get lucky and see a Blue Duck which pops in to the 

waters here from time to time but as there are only about 200 of those left I doubt they will appear in our short stay over the next

Kakapo Parrot

day or so.  It is sad that many species or bird are still being wiped out by the mammal predators that were introduced here by western settlers over the past two hundred years. Most of the extinct birds were flightless through millions of years of not having to worry about enemies so forgot the need to 'fly away'. Then suddenly a possum, a stoat or a feral cat or dog appears and the bird is easy prey for these killers. 

The extinct Moa

One exception was the largest of the flightless birds in these parts, the Moa which was actually hunted by the Maori over a couple of centuries before the bird became extinct in the 16th century; birds who trusted humans and were betrayed. At least now we are beginning to understand the need for conservation and sustaining the beauty of nature and wildlife. The stunning effects of this change of attitude are now before our eyes and at least this nation has given future generations the opportunity to enjoy once more the phenomenal beauty around us that is earth, that pinprick hanging in the balance in a vast universe..

The Homer Tunnel

We had travelled around some very steep and twisty bends along the Milford Road before entering the Homer Tunnel. Opened sixty years ago this year it gave the tourist for the first time a chance in a day to see a wonder of the world (Milford Sound) that was only ever accessible by sea or by a three to four day trek (tramping as the kiwis call it) for the fit and healthy.  The three quarter mile long tunnel is a spooky place carved out of sheer rock 950 meters above sea level and remains largely unmodified since its creation. There is limited internal lighting, it is very narrow and you are motoring on a slope, 1:10 downhill one way, uphill coming back. In the summer it has traffic lights and a one way system operates, in winter it's a two way road and I am only too pleased to say we are not going through it in winter! 

Exiting Homer Tunnel

When you come out into the bright daylight you immediately are into a very steep descent. The eyes need to quickly adjust or you are in for a real frightener. I am only now discovering how to use the gearing on an automatic car - if you go between 2 and even 1 on the gear shift then the engine slows you down and you don't need to burn the brakes out on the steep descents. No wonder poor old Sally smoked away down the hills. 

Avalanches are a main hazard here and there are at least a dozen potential hot spots where we are not allowed to stop, we just cross our fingers and keep going. It is in the snow season that it's most risky so we will be OK at this time of year (won't we?).

The fast flowing Cleddau River

Temperate Rain Forest

Deep Gorges and sculptured rocks

After the tunnel we see the fast flowing Cleddau River and we stop to view a series of waterfalls at the viewpoint walk known as The Chasm. Thousands of years of swirling water has sculpted pools and holes through the rock here and we also take a circular stroll on a constructed duck board walkway going through an example of the primeval temperate rain forest that is all over this heritage parkland. There are 500 species of plant found here and nowhere else on earth - that is quite something special and at last after years of human abuse through infestation, timber felling and hunting this has been preserved for us all to enjoy the richness and diversity of probably the finest scenery in the world.

The cliffs behind the hostel

We are on the last stretch now down to our overnight stay at Milford Sound Lodge. The hostel we are staying at is basic accommodation but clean and surprisingly it did have an evening meal selection which was excellent quality. It's still raining but hopefully tomorrow will be just right for a boat trip to remember for ever..

If the pictures we got from behind the lodge in the rain is anything to go by then we are in for a trip to remember. 

Blog 24 (PART ONE ) to follow - Fiords, cliffs, waterfalls and much much more!