I've already stated how New Zealand's South Island is far too scenic for its own good. That statement came from Greymouth, one hell of a long way up the north end of South Island, and all I can say is that every step you take further south gets progressively more and more scenic; more and more stunning; more and more time consuming as you stop your car, get out, and take yet another ridiculously picturesque photo of some mountain-backed verdant vista.
Then, once you've trekked far enough down the coast and navigated inland through Queenstown and its adrenaline-fuelled activity scene, you end up making the inevitable return trip to New Zealand's most famous attraction; #1 on the 101 Must-Do Things for Kiwis; supposedly the "8th Wonder of the World" - the world famous fjord of Milford Sound.
I realise that over the last 10 days or so this blog has been guilty of the most liberal usage of superlatives - largely in describing landscapes one more stunning than the next. If it were possible at this somewhat late stage, I'd take them all back in order to combine them into one unholy super-superlative and unleash it in description of this, the most spectacularly beautiful, tranquil, simultaneously relaxing and enthralling natural environment on Planet Earth. It never ceases to surprise me how many amazing things there are so see as you go travelling, but I have no hesitation in asserting that Milford Sound will not be topped in terms of outright natural beauty.
Those of you crazy enough to consult a map will find that getting to Milford Sound from Queenstown involves, as the crow flies, a relatively short journey to the north-west. Unfortunately, the hulking great mass of the southern Alps stands in the way of that particular direct journey, and the only alternative is to head 100km south of Queenstown, take a right and head 100km west to Te Anau, and then take another 200km dead-ended road whose culmination is Milford. Given that we're in New Zealand here and the roads concerned are, despite their highway designation, no more than glorified country tracks, doing the entire Queenstown-Milford return car journey in a day was not something I was particularly keen on. Tiredness constraints were one factor, but the bigger factor was the importance of avoiding the glut of tourists who take the day trip from Queenstown, arriving in one of a literal procession of coaches that all arrive in the 12.30-2pm slot after the 5 hour journey from Queenstown. Snobbish and hypocritical as it almost certainly is, one thing travelling soon imparts on you is a passionate dislike of bog-standard tourists...
Avoiding this midday scrum required a touch of advance planning, and my scheme involved an early morning crack-of-dawn drive to Milford from Te Anau - the last town of any significance (and last place to get petrol) before the long ride to Milford and back. An early morning start from Te Anau obviously requires the morning to begin in Te Anau, so following my bungy-jumping exploits in Queenstown yesterday I had time to grab some lunch and hit the road off to the lakeside town that, if it were in any other country, would probably be famous and vastly overpopulated for its location and environment.
Lake Te Anau, on which the town of Te Anau sits, is the second biggest lake in New Zealand and the largest in the South Island - only Lake Taupo up in the North is larger. Through a combination of clear blue skies and water of the highest cleanliness, and as you can see in the photo above, the water here on Te Anau shares the same perfect shade of deep, pure blue that is found in its sister lakes across the country, while rising up over the opposing side of the lake to the township stand the rocky peaks of a few more Southern Alpine mountains - a constant feature in this region, and indeed island. The guy in the statue is of an explorer whose name I forget, but was the first European to reach Milford Sound by land.
The town itself is pretty tiny - it would barely qualify as a village by English standards - but has a gorgeous waterfront walkway that leads around off the road towards a low key but nevertheless well maintained wildlife centre devoted to endangered native birds, including the kea - the world's only alpine parrot, and the takahe - a rare flightless bird that was thought to be extinct before a trekker strayed across a few hidden away in the Murchison Mountains of the Fiordland region. The decent walk to the reserve and back left me looking for some good grub, and happily I stumbled across Olive's Cafe at 9.40pm, giving me 20 minutes to see away the most delicious roast lamb and gravy I've ever been served outside of my own house. It was one of those meals that will be remembered long into the future, it was that good.
Sharing a dorm room with 3 Japanese/Chinese who apparently weren't keen on uttering a word of English, there was little to keep me from the much needed early night, and I was up by 6.30am and out by 7 in order to beat the crowds down the Milford Road. With time on my side I was able to take the advice of everyone I'd spoken to (not to mention the trusty LPG) and stop off at the various points of interest en route (generally a case of taking a few photos like the one above and moving on), the highlight of which was the "Mirror Lakes" whose still, clear waters provided a perfect mirror of the mountains and trees in the background. The clever reflected sign (right) is also, as I'm sure you'll agree, pretty damn cool.You can't come to Milford without doing a boat cruise around the Sound (i.e. the water), and I'd booked myself onto the 11.30am "Discover More" departure that included a BBQ lunch. Arriving in Milford at 9.45, I had a good couple of hours to chill out and begin what would be a devastating volley of photographs, so proceeded to snap away and, of course, Back the Bid.
Lunch was served as soon as we were on the boat - an orderly queue formed curving around a good salad cart and an even better selection of burgers, sausages, chicken legs - the works. Naturally I piled my plate up, but got a welcome shock a little later when I realised it was a buffet, and there was waaaaay more food than anyone could want. It goes without say I went to town.
Meanwhile, we were cruising in and around a glacial geologer's dreamworld. Milford Sound is actually misnamed - it is not a "Sound", which is created by rivers, but a fjord - created by ice. This is the reason the landscape features massive U-shaped valleys, with other U-shaped valleys culminating at the border of the Sound. Every corner you move around provides yet another amazing view - we were lucky to have a sunny day in a place that has 260 days of rain per year, and made the most of it up on the open top deck of the boat.
The only downside of the sunshine was that the thousands (literally) of waterfalls that cascade down the steep sided rock faces on a rainy day all run dry when there are more than a couple of days without rain - with the surrounding sheer-faced rocky mountains, there is next-to-no topsoil to absorb rain water, meaning that 90% flows straight down into the Sound. However, there still remain a few permanent falls that splash down regardless of the weather, and we cruised right into the spray of Stirling Falls, below, a huge 150m drop whose mass of spray in the bright sunlight resulting in an awesome rainbow around the boat (right).
The "Discover More" cruise also included a stop at the Milford Underwater Aquarium - down an 8 metre shaft you are able to observe the coral and marine life the lives in the glacial waters deep under the Sound's surface. Most abundant were the critters to the right - there were millions of them buzzing around, but more impressive were the starfish (by the hundred) and an appearance from a big black octopus.Eventually we were back at Milford's dock - which represents the entirety of the village of "Milford" (other than a small information centre, there is literally nothing else here), and soon after I finish writing this I'll be back on the road all the way back to Queenstown. But for now, it's about making as many mental photographs as humanly possible - Milford Sound is a truly special place.
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