Day 29 Nov 24th

One of the main reasons for coming to Te Anau was its convenience. It provided a good jumping off point for a day trip to Milford Sound. We had looked at various options. Trips from Queenstown meant spending about ten hours on a coach. Booking the trip from Te Anau saved about five hours of the boring bit (from Queenstown to Te Anau). We booked our tour with Fjordland Tours. We were picked up from our accommodation about 08:00. The transport was a sixteen seat mini-bus. There was plenty of legroom. I found it very comfortable. Our driver/guide was a local woman, who knew the area intimately.

Our route took us up the eastern edge of Lake Te Anau. We traveled as far as Te Anau Downs. This is where you catch a ferry to the start of the Milford Track. You can walk to Milford Sound from there, if you want to. Other tracks are available.

From there the route carried on up the Eglington Valley. This valley is featured in the Lord of the Rings. It continued to the Mirror Lakes.

The road climbed and twisted its way up to the Homer Tunnel.

The weather was blue skies and sunny when we stopped for tea and cake at The Mirror Lakes. When we emerged from the tunnel the rain started. This was not unexpected. Milford Sound receives a mean annual rainfall of 6,412 mm (252 in) each year. This is a high level even for the West Coast. It is known as the wettest inhabited place in New Zealand and one of the wettest in the world. Rainfall can reach 250 mm (10 in) during 24 hours.^[14] The rainfall creates dozens of temporary waterfalls cascading down the cliff faces. It also results in several major, more permanent ones. Some waterfalls reach a thousand meters in length. Smaller falls from such heights never reach the bottom of the sound, drifting away in the wind.

We dropped down from the tunnel to Milford Sound, where our boat was waiting for us.

Our cruise was very scenic, very spectacular and very wet.

We saw a few Fjordland Crested Penguins. From a photographers point of view they are unfortunately rather small. The reach a maximum height of around 55 cm. Hence the not very clear photo.

Sometimes seals, dolphins and orcas are seen, but not today.

I should mention that Fjordland Tours provided an excellent packed lunch, which we ate while cruising the sound.

The cruise lasted about two hours, then it was time to head back to Te Anau. We were stopped, waiting to go through the tunnel. During this time, a Kea decided to try and take the rubber door seal of the van apart.

We stopped on the way for a walk up the first (easy) part of the Lake Marian Trail.

After that we drove back to Te Anau where we were dropped off back at the campsite.

Some people would have been disappointed that it was wet and misty. I think that it the rain and the cloud actually enhanced the experience. There are apparently only two permanent waterfalls at Milford Sound. The rest are only formed when it is raining.

It was a wonderful day out and one of the highlights of our trip.