Milford Sound

In my Mad Dash™ of the south island, I arrived in Te Anau yesterday intending to check out the alledgedly extremely scenic road up to Milford Sound. Today was another beautiful, sunny, and warm day, as they all have been since I came to the south island. Hard to imagine that it was snowing here only two weeks ago.

Well, I set out along the Milford road, and I have only one thing to say - wow! It is just beyond belief! Sooo beautiful! There was just one slight problem - one section is called Avenue of the Disappearing Mountains, because the mountain tops usually disappear in the clouds. Well, no clouds today, not that I am complaining.

The last bit, just before crossing the mountain pass heading down to Milford, had avalanche warning signs all over, and true enough, it was clear that an avalanche had hit the road only the day before. The highest point of the pass, at 800 m., goes through the infamous Homer Tunnel. This is a bit scary, since the tunnel is unlit, and cut into dark granite, so it is very dark indeed. Coming in from bright sunlight is a bit of a shock. Still, I survived that too.

Originally I intended just to have a quick look around Milford, which isn't really a town, but consists solely of a hotel and an airstrip, but the weather was just too good not to go on a boat tour in the fiord. And am I glad that I did - it was terriffic!

This is probably my last message from the New Zealand vacation 2003. Tomorrow is my last day, and I'll head on to Christchurch from Queenstown, where I am now. At this last stretch I will actually pass by mount Cook, so I can get a few snaps of my own. Mount Cook is of course the mountain which is used as topic image for these messages.