A Magical Drive to Milford Sound and Back

New Zealand Travelog #16
Fiordlands National Park, NZ - Fri, 12 Apr 2024, 1pm

This morning we set off for Milford Sound not quite knowing what we'd do. I mean, we built a short-list of short hikes we'd like to do and scenic spots we'd like to visit. But as it turned out most of them were closed or not marked on the maps, and most of what we enjoyed wasn't on our list. It's like sometimes you have to get lost to find something. Here are just a few of the things we found today.

The gloom we started the day with in Te Anau stayed with us most of the day. The first hour or so headed out from Te Anau was a bunch of "Meh", driving past unspecial countryside beneath a leaden sky. But then we noticed snow-capped peaks peering through the clouds. That was the clue something special lay ahead.



As if crossing some invisible barrier, the road twisted down into a canyon, and soon we were at the foot of those snow-capped peaks. We stopped at one road-side pullout. Then another. And another. Soon we realized we'd have to be choosier or we'd never get back in time.

The road to Milford Sound goes through a tunnel. I heard someone say yesterday, "When you go through the tunnel it's like you emerge into a different world." I took that with a grain of salt. It was, of course, not literally true. It wasn't even figuratively true. But crossing the tunnel is like crossing the Rubicon. It's a signifier.



The first thing we saw on the far side of the tunnel was a wall of waterfalls. Hikes to a few waterfalls were on a short-list. Short list, shmort list! We didn't even have to hike... shit, we didn't even have to stop the car, and here were a hundred waterfalls. (Also, we did stop the car to enjoy them more.) This is the upside, BTW, of the gloomy, rainy weather. Waterfalls are simply eveywhere on the mountains' steep sides.

Eventually we did get to Milford Sound, the nominal objective of our half-day trip. There was nothing there. I mean, there was a cruise terminal, and that was it. There was no hiking. The trails that used to exist got wrecked and were never reopened. So we turned around— after getting a light lunch— and drove back. It was okay because all the magic was along the way. Oh, and the sun started poking out from behind the clouds!



On the drive back we stopped at several pull-offs we mentally bookmarked on the way in. They were all places that weren't on our short-list but should have been... except they weren't really on maps, either. We mentally bookmarked them as we drove past and said, "Whoa, that looks amazing!" but it was too late to stop. It's a good thing the road runs both ways. 😅

The photo above is at Tutoko Valley. The road crosses a bridge here (duh) and there's also an older bridge for foot traffic. It's the original bridge that was built in about 1939. Great Depression era public works projects were a thing in New Zealand, too!



Because the sun was poking out a bit from behind the clouds we re-visited some of the stops we made earlier. The photo above is the view from just the far side of the tunnel. It sure didn't look like this when we came through 90 minutes earlier!

We passed through the tunnel and back into reality. No, it wasn't like the magical world ended at the tunnel. It did extend a bit to the far side. But soon we climbed that winding road out of the canyon and left the snow-capped peaks of Fiordlands National Park behind.

Long Drive & Late Night at Mt. Cook

New Zealand Travelog #17
Mt. Cook National Park, NZ - Fri, 12 Apr 2024, 10pm

We arrived late to our hotel at Mt. Cook National Park this evening. It wasn't late-late— not like arriving at midnight plus-or-minus 30 minutes like we often do in the US— but it was New Zealand late. It was almost 9pm when we arrived. 😅 As buttoned down for the night as things were at the hotel, you'd think it was midnight. At least this hotel still had people at the front desk at 8:45pm unlike the previous hotel.

It took a lot of driving to get here. We started in Te Anau this morning, left reasonably early— though this time after enjoying sunrise as much as we could— and drove out to Milford Sound and back with amazing views along the way.

Just that could've been a day trip. If we'd had a full day for it we could have made more stops in the park— or paid for a cruise of Milford Sound. We decided not to prioritize that since we booked a cruise of Doubtful Sound yesterday..But once back in Te Anau we kept on driving, all the way back through Queenstown, where we'd started this week's trip (or at least the land based portion of it), and then up to Mt. Cook National Park.

In all I drove 658km today. That's just over 400 miles. For most of it being on winding country roads, in addition to the sightseeing we did, that's a lot! And I am tired. Thankfully it's a) the toughest travel day in our plans so I don't have to manage an endurance test like it again this trip, and b) we're at the hotel now, so I can wind down for the night. As for the hotel....



Well, this is our room for the next two nights. It's the most expensive of all the rooms we booked for the entire trip. And so far it's the least impressive.

Why so expensive? One, we're in the park. We could have stayed an hour's drive away and spent less. That will pay off tomorrow and Sunday when we don't have to drive as much to see things and go hiking. After all the driving we did today I'm sure I'll appreciate that.

Two, this is a "Mt. Cook View" room. For now, though, we have to take it on faith that we have a view of anything. We definitely have a balcony... but right now all we can see from it is pitch blackness.