Milford Sound ....... Awesome !!

We set our alarm for 6am and all got up to get sorted. It was pitch black, we wanted to make good ground before else. Ben drove first and we left Queenstown to Milford Sounds.

The road was so quiet so we made really good time. We drove to Te Anau where we stopped for a wee and a walk around the town. We got there the same time as some tour buses but we managed to park away from them and enjoy a brew by the marina. After a walk around the shops and filling up with diesel we were setting off again.

The views were changing, starting off all flat then building up. We stopped off by the end of Lake Te Anau and had something to eat. Next stop was Mackay Creek where we decided to spray with Aeroguard and venture out by the roaring river.

We were then all back in the van and heading to our next stop Mirror Lake. The sun was out and it was lovely but it didn’t quite reflect the mountains as a mirror unfortunately. We watched the little ducks on the water and then had a walk along the boardwalk. Then back to the van and heading onwards again.

Back on the awesome road winding along, the van managed the roads great. We were soon driving uphill and we made a stop at the Hollyford Lookout. We even bumped into a Kea (parrot) much to Mam and Dad’s delight. We got some great photos and then back in the van.

We arrived at the Homer Tunnel and got out to be greeted by yet another Kea. The views are amazing in this part of Milford. It’s just huge, surrounded by massive mountains with snow on the top. The avalanche of snow was still there but not as big as last time. There was a sign this time telling you not to go near it so we couldn’t get any close up photos. The sun made the mountains look totally different than the last time we were here.

We waited our 15 minutes for the lights to change before driving into the tunnel. Seemed like ages before we were driving out again and the view is awesome. You can’t put into words the views in Milford, just spectacular. We drove down the very winding road before managing to pull over for some photos. Snow was covering the tops of the mountains, so beautiful!

We had one more stop at the Chasm. It was gushing with water, so powerful. Ben managed to get some more photos of it, some rain had gotten on his lens the last time we were there so it was good to get some more photos.

Our last stop was the mighty Milford Sound. Awesome view! Driving in with the sun beaming through the range, so awesome. Everything is HUGE!

We parked up the van and then had a walk along the boardwalk. We watched the cruises sailing back in and going out into the Sound. We were going to have a pint in the pub but it was closed.

We then decided to go to the campsite, just a 10 minutes walk from the Sound itself.

We enjoyed some home cooked corned beef hash followed by the daily dominos and Uno championships.

It gets so dark in the Sound at night with all the mountains around. Makes it feel really eerie.