Te Anau and the Milford Sounds

Our next adventure after Queenstown and Kinloch was to head South and then West to the Fiordlands and national park; another amazing place from what I have heard. The main attraction here is the Milford sounds and Doubtful sounds, a series of deep fiords carved out by glaciers and now a spectacular opportunity to see waterfalls and tall mountains close up.
Our first stop was a place called Te Anau, a 3-4 hour drive from Queenstown, along a mix of lakeside roads and then long, straight open plains. We arrived in Te Anau after lunch and checked into our hostel, a nice purpose built hostel run by a very efficient and OCD kiwi (no OCD comments please!).

That afternoon we went for an explore along the first part of a local track called the Kepplar Track. Another 3 day trek through forest and wetlands, but this time with a lot more of a sedate gradient, as this was situated along lakes and close to the sea.


The next day was all about the drive to Milford Sounds. Our preference would have been to go to Doubtful sound, but a combination of cost and time meant that it wasn't possible. To get to Doubtful you need to combine a boat, coach and walking trip to just get to the place.

The drive to Milford from Te Anau was about 120 Km, and with the potential for hoards of coaches to join us, we set off early. Along the way to Milford are a number of stop off points. Places such as mirror lake (where if the lake is still you can get a great reflected view-sadly it wasn't), passing through the 45th parallel (mid way point between the equator and the south pole) and the homer tunnel, a tunnel that passes through a large mountain range on the way to Milford. Although our brakes decided to scare us a little, when they started smoking. The constant breaking down hill for long periods of time meant that they needed time to recover!

On the road to Milford

So a pleasant drive with lots to see. As we approached the end of the road the mountains started to get higher and more impressive, until we reached Milford itself. We got there mid afternoon but opted for one of the last cruises on the 'sound' so as to avoid the masses at lunchtime who had travelled from Queenstown on a day trip.

On the road to Milford

The Milford Sound

The boat trip on the Milford Sound was great, a small boat of only about 12 people made it feel less touristy, which was a bonus. The tour was about 2 hours and took us the length of the sound, out to the sea and back again. The surrounding mountains towered over us and were very imposing, although the scariest bit was thinking that the height above us, in terms of mountain ranges, was also below us, carved out in to a very deep fiord. The depths were something daft like twice the depth of Loch Ness, over 350-400m deep (hold onto your car keys and camera...!)

In addition to the mountains and deep fiords, there was also a number of stunning waterfalls, two of which stood out as being particularly amazing. Again the pictures here don't really convey the size and grandeur of them, but here are a few pictures anyway.


So after our trip on the sound, we headed back to the local lodge for the night. Milford is a very small and secluded place, so accommodation is limited. The next day we set off, along the 120 Km stretch back to Te Anau, with more stops along the way for impromptu walks and to take in the sights. We decided to stretch our legs and went on a 3 hour round trip walk to a place called Lake Marian. A lake situated high up in a mountain bowl. This was most probably the steepest climb we had done to date. It required us to climb over a recent tree and rock avalanche that was quite impressive to see in itself.

We returned and stayed another night back in Te Anau before then heading to Queenstown for a few nights. All in all a great leg of our trip and once again this place just keeps on giving more and more spectacular sights and experiences.