Overnight Cruise in the Milford Sound

We were so lucky to have such great weather in the fiord that is the Milford Sound. Well worth it to see the sunset and sunrise from the boat!

The girls - Tina, Nancy, and Mom

Wow, look at that

Mom and Dad enjoying the brisk fresh air

Add comment March 22nd, 2003

Routeburn Track Day 3 and Cruising Milford

Today was the third and final day of the Routeburn Track and I lucked out again with perfect weather. I was up early this morning at the MacKenzie Campsite and started walking on the trail at 8am. It took 3.5 hours to do the 12 km down to the road. It was a great walk down the track with some incredible views of the Hollyford Valley and so many little waterfalls coming down the mountains.

Once at the road I decided to hitch the 28 km down the dead-end road to Milford Sound, (1) because I wanted to see it and I was so close already, and (2) because the weather was so good that I wanted the seize the opportunity. I got picked up by 3 really nice Japanese guys who are living in Wellington and teaching Japanese at one of the schools there. It was a great ride down to the Sound and going through the Homer Tunnel. Really dramatic scenery consisting of snow-covered granite peaks and the fiord carving itself down to the Milford Sound.

We arrived at the parking lot and the guys dropped me off and I decided to book a nature cruise of the Sound for 3pm. The place was packed with tourists - no doubt that it’s high season in this place. I had lunch and dried out my tent in the sun while waiting for the cruise (no it didn’t rain last night but there was so much dew that the tent was still wet in the morning; even without rain everything gets wet in NZ!). Cruise left at 3 and went through the Sound, out to the Tasman Sea, and back. It was a great day for the journey and I considered myself very lucky to have the sun in a place where the average yearly rainfall is 9 meters!!

There were lots of waterfalls rolling down into the Sound and even a few fur seals hanging out on some of the rocks. The cruise was over in 1 hour 45 minutes and I was back at the dock where I walked down to the parking lot and out to the road to hitch. Waited only a few minutes and a couple picked me up and offered a ride for the 2-hour trip to Te Anau. They were really cool - the guy Brendan was born in NZ but has American parents (from Indiana) and Danielle is from Oz and they’ve both been travelling for nearly 2 years now. The 2-hour ride flew by in between conversations and a few breaks at some scenic spots. They were heading to Queenstown actually and offered me a ride the whole way which was really cool, but I wanted to stop here to try to do more tramping.

We arrived in Te Anau just after 7pm and I said goodbye to my new friend and set out to look for a place to set up the ol’ tent. Found space at the Holiday Park (aka Campervan Central) and I’m hoping that there are no Croatians with car stereos near my tent tonight. I had enough time to run to the supermarket to resupply before it closed then took a shower and now I am getting ready to crash. Tomorrow I’ll get up early and head down to the DOC office to try to get on the Kepler Track, a 4-day, 67-km tramp through Fiordland National Park. I can’t wait to get back in the woods and away from these crowds!

Early morning on the Routeburn Track

Waterfall in Milford Sound

Cruisin the Milford Sound

Add comment January 2nd, 2003