We are on a road trip for 6 weeks around New Zealand’s South Island in our motorhome, and have been in Queenstown and Te Anau, admiring the lakes and mountains there. A few days after that, we drove to Milford Sound, a broody and majestic glacial fjord.
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| Milford Sound, Milford, NZ |
Milford Sounds sits within the Fiordland National Park which is in a remote corner of Te Wahipounamu, a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is a world-famous fjord and were looking forward to our visit there.
The road into this remote area is stunning, with cloud covered mountains, waterfalls, and rainforests along the way.
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| Homer Tunnel, Milford Road, NZ |
We stopped to view Eglinton Valley, the Mirror Lakes, and other scenic places along the way. Then we came to the Homer Tunnel. This tunnel is a steep, one-way, unlined shaft that took us through 1.2 km of sheer rock. Sitting at 1270 m, it is the highest point on the Milford Road.
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| Kea pecking a hole in our bike cover at Homer Tunnel, Milford, NZ |
Once through the tunnel, we stopped at a view-point and saw two cheeky keas examining people’s cars. This seemed quite amusing, until they hopped onto ours and pecked a hole in our bike cover! This unique native bird is the world’s only alpine parrot, and their inquisitiveness is legendary.
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| Road to Milford Sound, NZ |
After patching the hole, we made a steep descent through amazing peaks and rugged rock formations toward Milford. We found a great camping spot among the ancient and twisted beech trees in Milford Sound Lodge, and enjoyed a great meal in the Lodge restaurant that night.
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| Beautiful Milford Sound (UNESCO), Milford, NZ |
The next day, we went to Milford Wharf, deep within the Fiordland National Park, and boarded a boat for a cruise on the Sounds. The boat took us out onto the sound, also known as a fjord, with its magical mountains, dark waters, and forested cliffs. We sailed past the spectacular Bowen Falls, the tallest falls in the Sound, and Sinbad Gulley which is a perfect U-shaped valley.
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| Us cruising on the Milford Sound (UNESCO), NZ |
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| Boat at Stirling Falls, Milford Sound (UNESCO), NZ |
Next, the boat stopped for an up-close view of Stirling Falls. We were invited to stand on the bow of the boat as it inched under the falls. But on this cold windy day, only one person was brave enough to do it – she was just about blue afterwards! Then it was time to return to Milford after a fantastic cruise.
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| Landslide and flooding across the Milford Track (UNESCO), NZ |
The next morning it was raining heavily but we caught a water taxi to Sandfly Point to walk the famous Milford Track. Despite the rain, we were enjoying our walk until we came to a place where there had been a significant landslide, which now had a large and rising river rushing through it.
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| A very wet walk on the Milford Track (UNESCO), NZ |
We decided it was unsafe to wade through, so reluctantly turned back. Returning through the beautiful rainforest, we noticed the water levels had risen in all of the streams, so were glad we had not continued. Despite our wet-weather gear, we were absolutely soaked through by the time we got home.
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| Leigh at Wilmot Pass overlooking Doubtful Sound (UNESCO), NZ |
The following day the rain had stopped and we drove to Lake Manapouri, also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We were there for another boat cruise, but this time on Doubtful Sound and we would be out overnight.
Leaving from Lake Manapouri’s Pearl Harbour, we boated across to the road known as Wilmot Pass where we swapped to a bus. This Pass was created for the building of the Manapouri Hydroelectric Project and is an amazingly steep and twisting gravel road.
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| Marg on the 3-masted Fiordland Navigator on the Doubtful Sound (UNESCO), NZ |
The bus dropped us at Deep Cove on Doubtful Sound, where we boarded the 3-masted Fiordland Navigator, our overnight boat. Our cabin was on the top deck and well equipped with a comfortable bed and our own bathroom.
Then we cruised through the evocatively sombre mountains of the Sound. Sometime later, the Navigator dropped anchor in a sheltered cove so we could experience the Sound up close.
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| Leigh kayaking on Doubtful Sound (UNESCO) with our ship behind |
This meant getting on the water in a kayak and paddling around the shores of Doubtful Sound. The weather was lovely and we had a great time.
Back on board, we sailed past several waterfalls and saw more dolphins. When we reached the Tasman Sea, we saw huge rocks rising above the seal level with fur seals and their pups basking in the late sun. It was quite magical.
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| Beautiful Doubtful Sound (UNESCO), NZ |
Later in the Sound, we cruised through more beautiful scenery. Doubtful Sound is the deepest of our sounds and has a striking landscape of ancient glacially-carved valleys lined with mountains, huge rocks and waterfalls. We found it quite beautiful.
That night, we anchored in the Gaer Arm of the Sound. The captain explained that he had to get permission to anchor there and that this cruise was the first to do so.
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| Dusk on Doubtful Sound (UNESCO), NZ |
The dusk was lovely, and later, we viewed the night sky in an amazingly dark part of the world. It was absolutely beautiful and the Milky Way could be seen in all its glory.
The next morning, after a great breakfast, we cruised into a very quiet arm of the Sound. The captain turned off all of the engines and generators and we had absolute silence. We could hear water coming down a waterfall and lots of birdsong – it was very special.
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| Lake Manapouri (UNESCO), NZ |
Too soon, it was time to cruise back to Deep Water Cove, bus back over the Wilmot Pass, then cruise across Lake Manapouri and back to our motorhome. Our journey now continues, taking the Southern Scenic Route to Invercargill and Stewart Island, but you can read about that in the next blog.
This is part of a bigger blog on our travels around the South Island of New Zealand. The first blog is called NZ's South Island in a motorhome.