Day 64 - Friday 8th March 2024

Today is undoubtedly one of the highlights of the whole trip with a long anticipated visit to Milford Sound; one of the natural wonders of the world. The forecast was for a rainy day, and when I set off in the dark from Te Anau I did wonder whether my run of good fortune and timing was going to come to an end. All of the wet weather gear was packed in my day pack, but was it needed?

A stop off for a fuel top up before leaving Te Anau, and then onto the road just after 07:00 as the day began to get light. I had quite a list of things to look at today, and the first stop was at Eglinton Valley for the view of the mountains I was aiming for. The temperature was only 4 degrees, so it was a fairly quick stop before getting back on my way; it was the first time I'd had the heater on in the car.

The next stop was at Mirror Lakes where I explored the boardwalk alongside a lake that gave a wonderful reflection of the mountains behind. I had considered missing this stop on the way as I had a boat trip at 11:10, but I'm pleased that I did stop on the way; a breeze had developed on the way back and the reflection wasn't anywhere near as good.

The road to Milford Sound was mainly empty, and I needed to stop an hour in for a comfort break; my timing sucked because as I went to pull back onto the road a campervan passed with about 20 cars stuck behind. I joined the end of the line, and followed up the mountain and through the Homer Tunnel. Just past the tunnel there was a viewpoint, so I stopped to admire the view and let the road clear.

I caught up with the traffic again as I arrived at the car park I planned to use. It was a 30 minute walk to the terminal building, but it was free; there is a charge of $10 per hour closer to the terminal. About half of the line of traffic turned for the free car park, which looked full. I went to have a look at the far end of the car park, and someone was just reversing into a space, so I thought I'd missed my chance, but he waved me on and there was just room to get in next to him (even though my rear did stick out a bit as there was a rock jutting out at the front).

Insect repellent applied before getting out of the car (it's not deet, so I shan't be melting any plastic), and then the walk down a narrow track. I took a turn for the foreshore loop as I had plenty of time now I was here, and the views of the fiord were stunning. OK, I need to explain why this place is misnamed. A sound is a sunken valley formed by a river, but this is a sunken valley formed by a glacier and is therefore a fiord. The misnaming has stuck (along with Doubtful Sound which also isn't a sound), but they have tried to right the wrong by calling the area 'Fiordland'.

Anyway, as I said, the views of the mountains dropping into the deep water of the fiord were stunning, and far more than I had hoped for having seen the weather forecast yesterday. My luck does seem to be holding, or perhaps I just jinxed the rain by buying waterproof overtrousers.

On to the terminal, and a 10:30 check in for my 11:10 cruise. I had deliberately selected a company that sells the idea of a smaller boat, and looking at the size of some of the bigger boats I had definitely made the right decision. The cruise itself was fantastic; two hours on the water where we stopped by numerous waterfalls, left the fiord and spent a bit of time in the Tasman Sea before returning to the fiord and sitting underneath Stirling Falls before making our way back in.

The views were just stunning, and I doubt my words could do any justice to the majesty of this place; it really was epic in scale. I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.

Off of the boat after a fantastic two hours, back along the path to the car and onto the road heading back to Te Anau. I had a couple of stops en route. The first was at a place called 'The Chasm' which involved a 1km return walk. The path had suffered some damage, so the loop wasn't able to be completed; where the path spit I turned right, and a bridge over the gorge was closed due to dangerous landslips, and the other branch was equally as short before it was closed. What could be seen was the top of the gorge, and I could hear water but not see it, which seemed to defeat the point of going there. A notice at the start may have been useful!

Disappointed with this stop, I then went to the Marian Lake trail. This trail is a 3 hour return hike that I had hoped to do, but there is lots of scrambling and climbing involved so I'm probably not up to that at the moment, so I followed the path up to a section of boardwalk that climbs beside a raging series of falls and rapids.

Then back onto the road, and a stop in Te Anau town centre for dinner before making my way back to the motel. Today has been fantastic, and my luck held with the weather; it was torrential rain there yesterday.