Calypso's Journal: Milford Sound

Upon leaving the glaciers behind, we continued down the coastline to Haast, turning inland alongside Mount Aspiring National Park through the magnificent Lake Wanaka region. Wherever we looked the views were simply stunning. The road dropping down into Queenstown was a steep decline of switchbacks and, as we looked back up, the sky was filled with hang gliders floating above us. Queenstown nestles on one of the northern curves of Lake Wakatipu, a long snake of narrow water surrounded by beautiful mountains. It was a little like coming into Lake Lucerne in Switzerland. Such a stunning sight.

Previously, while still in Haast, we stopped to have someone look at the van’s wheel alignment which had been concerning us for a while. However, the chap wasn’t able to get to it for a few days so we continued on to Queenstown. Here we found a tyre specialist so had the tyres rotated and realigned. Unfortunately, his report on the tyres wasn’t encouraging but we did what we could to try to ensure that there was no unnecessary wear and tear.

We found a nearby campsite for the night and had hoped to see a bit more of the town the following day but our second day of rain started that night which made it impossible to do the chair lift ‘thing’ to view the town and lake from above. Instead, we chose to head out towards Milford Sound in the hopes that, as the day progressed, the weather would improve and it did just that.

We were lucky to come across a couple of Kea, a parrot which is known for being somewhat cheeky and for their intelligence and curiosity. Their curiosity leads them to peck and carry away unguarded items of clothing or to pry apart rubber parts of cars - to the entertainment and annoyance of human observers. Kea can apparently solve logical puzzles, such as pushing and pulling things in a certain order to get to food, and will work together to achieve a certain objective. The underneath of their wings when they fly show a beautiful orange.

Sandflies can be an enormous problem on the west coast, landing on a person in their droves but, here again, we were relatively lucky. These are nasty little buggers whose bite stings like mad and lasts several days. We had been warned to take plenty of protection but fortunately, they never became a major issue during our stay.

Again, incredible scenery no matter which way we looked and the weather just got better and better. The following day, we arrived in Milford Sound which just has to be seen to be appreciated. We also knew that to do it justice, one has to either see it by plane, helicopter or boat so, as the first two options are somewhat beyond our budget, boat it was. What a thoroughly great trip!

We couldn’t have asked for better weather. When one considers that Milford Sound is known as the wettest inhabited place in New Zealand and one of the wettest in the world with a mean annual rainfall of nearly 7000mm on 182 days of the year, a clear day where the tops of the mountains are visible is definitely a bonus.

The two-hour boat trip took us right to the mouth of the Abel Tasman Sea where, if you didn’t know, you’d never realise that there is an opening into the Sound there. No wonder Captain Cook missed it.

The whole of the next day found us travelling down the edge of Fiordlands giving us a magnificent view of seemingly endless mountains, lakes and fiords. One can imagine that there are numerous areas within this region where no man has ever set foot – it’s just so vast and rugged. There are literally hundreds of hiking trails throughout this area and, indeed, throughout New Zealand as a whole with South Island a particularly popular location for what the Kiwis call ‘tramping’. This usually involves hiking for several days and the Department of Conservation has erected huts along these trails for overnight stays. This is the only way one could ever visit Fiordlands other than by boat as there are literally no roads.

We’re almost at the southern tip so Invercargill, here we come.

PHOTO GALLERY: