Monday Feb 1, 2010 – Te Anau

Milford Sound is out destination today. It is 120 Km from Te Anau. There are no gas stations along the way so you must make sure you have enough gas. There is so much to see on the way. It is not a hard drive as the road is fairly straight, but you make frequent stops.

Our First stop was at Milford Downs. It is basically a harbour. There is a hotel there as well. We saw a beautiful heron. We walked out on the dock. Next, came the Mirror Lakes a favourite stop for tour busses. Although, there was a mild breeze so the lakes had a bit of a ripple they were amazing all the same. It is really had to tell what is real and what is reflection along the shore line. When I saw the pictures I realized the ripples did not bother the reflections. It was nice to see they had not changed much since the last trip.

We did the Lake Gunn Nature Walk at the south end of the lake and ate lunch at the north end. We tried sitting at the picnic table to eat. However the ever present sand flies were out for blood so we moved to the beach. We sat on the rocky beach and ate our lunch. Many other people were doing the same. There were sun bathers, groups enjoying the beach and a family enjoying the water. They had a daughter like Jennifer. She was only 18 months and just loved the water. They had to keep a close eye on her. One thing we did notice was the lake and river had more water in it this time.

We stopped to take pictures at a roaring waterfall beside the road. Across the road was a river that the water from the falls joined into creating beautiful rapids. Further up the road was the Hollyford lookout. You could hear and see the river from up high. There were lots of the NZ Christmas trees in bloom throughout the forest. While waiting to go through the Homer Tunnel, we took pictures of the many waterfalls. There was a patch of snow with a cave in it. The Tunnel is 1219m long with a gradient of 1 in 10. The tunnel was built in 30's during the depression. Many workers had never done hard labour before or lived in such isolation. It was very hard. They did go down to Hollyford town where there was a cinema and shops. Hollyford was a very busy place at the time. It no longer exists.

The Chasm is our last stop before Milford Sound. It is still very beautiful. Again there was much more water this time so we did not see all the beautiful sculptures made by the Cleddau River. The roar and fierceness of the river was very impressive. Pictures are hard to take because of the shadows. We continued on to Milford Sound forgetting that it is only a harbour for the many fiord cruise ships and fishing vessels.

The west side of the tunnel has very steep granite walls that are very impressive. They also have many very tall waterfalls. We stopped at the east side to take more pictures. Some keas were about. A lady gave one a piece of peach. More came looking for food. They were all over the car, looking in the open doors and trunks. They were really funny.

We decided to take a trip into Gunns Camp as there was a store there. We were hot and thirsty. It was 8km on dirt road to get there. Their cooler for drinks was a hole over which spring water dripped. The cans were cooler but not cold. The camp has cabin accommodation available which are very rustic. Good for hikers. There are lots of hiking tracks available in the area.

Our last stop was at Lake Marian walk. It is just at the start of the road to Gunns Camp. We did the Gantry walk which was only a 10min trip. From there the rest of the trip to the lake is a steady uphill climb up to the lake for about 1 hr and 20 min. We left the river for awhile and lost the sound from it. As we climbed you could start to hear water rushing. Shortly, you could just see white water through the bush. The roar of the water kept getting louder and louder. We rounded a bend and there were the rapids. It was so beautiful and noisy. There was a wooden walkway for us. In places the river raged below the walkway. There was no one else about to bother us. It was very peaceful.