New Zealand Part 2 : June 25 - July 14

Te Anau : Thursday, June 29, 2006

Brian was up early this morning to take a business call from back home. Even after a year on the road, he still can’t get away from it all. At least it is better than it was. His call however meant a sleep in for the rest of the family. We have been going pretty much non stop through most of New Zealand, so it was much appreciated. We got on the road shortly after 10:00. If anything it had gotten colder, and there was significantly more ice.

Our drive today was only going to be 3 hours long. We were headed further south and west to the town of Te Anau, which is the gateway to the Fiordland National Park. It is also the southern terminus of the famous Milford Sound Road, reportedly one of the most scenic drives in the world. There was quite a bit of frost and ice on the road and we managed to get snowed on during the drive. Other than that however the trip was largely uneventful. We did notice that as we approached the southern parts of the country the numbers of domestic red deer (actually elk) were up significantly. There was arguably more deer being raised here than sheep!

We pulled into Te Anau around 2:30. Te Anau is a very pretty, very small town situated on Lake Te Anau. It is clearly a summer time resort town. Several of the motels were closed for winter. From here it is easy to catch bus / boat excursions to Milford Sound or Doubtful Sound, further to the east. In both cases in involves a trek across the tops of the Southern Alps. Our hotel/lodge for the night was the Campbell Autolodge. The winter rates here were amazing. We grabbed a one bedroom with a lounge and kitchenette with internet for only $60 USD / night. With free internet, Brennan and Sierra were in heaven.

We had heard that in the winter time you have to carry chains over the Milford Sound road. If you are caught without them it’s a $750 fine and your insurance is invalid. Brian took off to the local service station to see about rentals. The way it works is that the police advise the service stations every morning as to the road conditions and whether or not chains are required. The lady at the station told Brian the weather was supposed to be good tomorrow and we should check in at 7:00 am. If the police advise that chains aren’t needed we wouldn’t have to rent. It sounded promising at least!

We grabbed a quick bite of lunch and headed off to check out our one street town. It was a very pretty place, with lots of small eateries and shops. We managed to find the local supermarket and picked up some dinner stuff. We also were able to book a tour boat trip for the next day in Milford Sound. It was pretty cheap given that it was winter, and we grabbed the first trip (11:00). This meant that we had to be on the road early however, because it takes 2.5 hours to travel the 120 km from Te Anau to Milford. Hopefully the weather holds.

Friday, June 30, 2006: Milford Sound / Te Anau, New Zealand

What a spectacular day! We started in the dark, around 7:30 and headed off to the gas station first thing. Luck was with us, and the police report indicated that while there was ice, we weren’t required to carry chains. We had to check in for our boat tour by 10:30. The locals had all advised us that the sound was at it prettiest early in the morning. They also pointed out that 90% of the bus tours take off or pass through town between 8:30 am and 9:30 am in order to catch 12 or 1:00 pm boat tours. If you are self driving its best if you can miss this window.

It is 120 km from Te Anau to Milford and the drive takes 2.5-3 hours. For the first 45 minutes or so, the road was frosty but not icy and we were making great time. We wondered what the last 70 km was going to be like if it was going to take us 2 hours to travel.

The first part of the drive itself was largely flat, through very large valleys with the Southern Alps bordering each side. The walls were nearly vertical. Travel in winter cuts both ways. You can be unlucky and have bad roads and not see anything at all, or if you get lucky you can get some spectacular views. Sunrise was stunning and we saw for the first time that there was not a cloud in the sky! Yahoo!

As we drove through the park, we commented on the similarities to our own Glacier National Park. The mountains here while not quite as high, were certainly steeper. The valley floor narrowed considerably after a while and we began to drive along a series of small lakes. In the early morning, the surface was just like glass and we ended up stopping several times to take advantage of the great reflected views.

With about 50 km to go to Milford, we began to hit the winding roads and the snow that we were expecting. Travel speeds dropped to about 30 km / hour. Many of the roads were down to one lane for both directions. The mountains just kept getting steeper and steeper and closer and closer, and our valley just kept getting smaller and smaller. Finally we pulled into what appeared to be a box canyon. By this time we had been climbing for a long time and had reached what appeared to be the summit. Now there was no way out! Exit from this box canyon turned out to be the Homer Tunnel. This tunnel is located around 15-20 km from Milford and is over 1 km long. Not as long as the Norwegian tunnels but impressive nevertheless. The difference here however is that the tunnel is straight and down. There is not a turn in it for the whole 1+ km length, but you lose huge elevation. It’s like a giant bumpy toboggan run in the dark! Emerging on the other side of the mountain, the valley opened up before us. The descent is along an impressive set of switchbacks. This is one of the most impressive views of the park!

Ten km further on, we pulled of to visit “the Chasm”. We were around 20 minutes early for our check in and a chance to stretch our legs was appealing. The valley we were driving through had a middle sized river running along it. The Chasm is a deep gorge about a 20 minute walk from the parking lot. We crossed a series of bridges overlooking the river as it fell into a deep set of gorges. The water erosion along the rocks was amazing. Not someplace you would want to consider sledging down! We also saw a pair of kea birds. They are a very large species of parrot and were very interesting to watch.

We headed back to the car and into town. Milford is nothing much more than a small airport, a hotel or two and a visitor center/restaurant. The boat terminal from which 3-4 tour companies depart is located about 1 km from the visitor’s center. While you can drop off at the terminal, parking is back at the visitor center. We noticed as we did our 1 km walk to the check in that the walkway was largely covered. We found out later that Milford Sound gets over 7meters of rain annually. When it rains here it really, really rains.

We checked in for our boat trip on the Red Boat tours. This was to be a 2 hour cruise through the sound. Given the early hour and the winter season it was very lightly loaded. There were maybe 25 passengers on a vessel capable of carrying 4-500. They claim in the summer they run at capacity nearly every day for all of their tours! The sky was still a stunning blue but we had begun to see some clouds appear on the horizon. Just along the sound was Mitre Peak. This “signature” mountain raises straight up from the water to more than a mile in height. It is awesome! It got its name from its resemblance to a Bishop’s hat or mitre.

The boat tour itself was definitely worth while. Even though it was bitterly cold, it afforded us some tremendous views of the sound and the mountains. Strictly speaking, Milford Sound is a fiord, not a sound. (A fiord is created by glacial erosion, a sound by ancient river action). Milford drops to a depth of over 400 meters and is only 1 km wide at its widest point. There were lots of great waterfalls, seals and sea birds along the way. The highlight however was the pod of 35+ bottlenose dolphins that swam all around the bow of our boat. These were larger than earlier ones we had seen and were very active, with the little ones jumping right out of the water. The tour cost us about $70 in total and that included a box lunch. It was certainly worthwhile for us.

It was still extremely cold and icy as we walked back to the car, and we had to scrape frost off it for the second time in one day. The drive back was no less spectacular, although the wind seemed to have picked up and the mirror affect of the lakes was now gone. We made it back to the hotel shortly after 4:00. It had been an 8-9 hour day but it certainly didn’t feel like that. Brennan opted for an internet dinner while the rest of us headed out to a local pub. Deb tried the green lipped muscles (they were great) while Sierra was thrilled to find a chicken schnitzel! They were two happy girls. Brian felt bad for Brennan and placed an order for nachos on the way out. It was a terrific way to end our time on the west side of the south island. Tomorrow we head back over to the east coast and the town of Dunedin.  ( NEXT PAGE )