Lupins and Milford Sound

In my last blog entry, we were at Doubtful Sound, one of the signature cruises in New Zealand. In this blog post, somewhat delayed I have to say, we will embark on the cruise that is the most iconic of all cruises in New Zealand, that of Milford Sound.

One feature of our trip to South Island was that the weather Gods seemed to be smiling upon us for the whole three weeks of our trip. I mentioned in Part 7 that this part of New Zealand receives more rainfall in a year than Amazonia, and as we left Manapouri Holiday Campsite the heavens darkened as we drove North towards our next camping site, situated at Cascade Creek. But it didn’t quite rain, yet …

I fancied going for a bit of a walk, whilst Sandra went and found a cold water swim. So we settled on me doing a walk between Lake Manapouri and Lake Te Anau (of glowworm fame). One thing I had not mentioned last time was that this area of New Zealand was used as a location for Lord of The Rings, and was used as the Andurin River, so that’s nice to see. I did a section of the Kepler Track from Rainbow Reach to Shallow Bay. A really easy walk starting by going across a great suspension bridge across the Waiau River, then through the trees passing by the Moturau Wetland which was full of beautiful dragon flies. The walk ended at Shallow Bay in Lake Manapouri. The rains held off just about throughout the walk out and during the return and and yet another joyous walk in New Zealand was complete!

After this small excursion we continued up the road to our next campsite of Cascade Creek which was close to another stretch of water called Lake Gunn. However, the rain had settled in as a steady downpour and the opportunities for good photos was limited. Sandra recalls this campsite as having the worst example of long drop toilet in her life, so memories of that particular experience were not good, but quite vivid as a host of mosquitos attacked her from all sides on visiting the ladies. I didn’t bother trying the blokes that evening …

But next day was bright and sunny again, so we set off up the valley to rendezvous at the dockside for our Milford Sound cruise. From Cascade Creek it is a straight drive to the start of the cruise along Route 94. It is is another of those spectacular mountain routes of South Island. There are a host of stopping off points for waterfalls, river views, valley views and more waterfalls. Before you go down the valley to Milford Sound there is a tunnel and before the tunnel a rest space which is a popular place for the bird known as the Kia to gather. Why? Because there are humans there and they like to eat the food the humans leave behind and then they like to start ripping off bits of your vehicle, just for the laughs …

We had opted initially for a Kayak trip, but Sandra was not up to it after her operation of a few weeks before, so we cancelled that and went for a standard cruise up Milford Sound but on one of the smaller boats so that we could call in at places that the bigger boats don’t go to. It was fairly easy to book a cruise at short notice, there are loads of boat trips, but as with all things in New Zealand it is busy but not stupidly so.

The trip itself was another magical moment in New Zealand. Again the weather Gods were smiling upon us, as the clouds rolled back as we headed into Milford Sound and sun came out. I could go on for hours about the huge waterfalls cascading down the vertical cliffs, the precariously perched trees on sheer cliffs that rose above us. The hanging valleys, the snow capped mountains behind, the forested crags and cliffs all around. But I’ll just let you look at the pictures. They say all there is to say … Oh and by the way despite its name, it is a fjord, not a sound, that is it was formed by glaciers and not by rivers.

Milford Sound was named by Welsh sealer John Grono around 1812, who discovered the fjord and named it after his homeland of Milford Haven in Wales. It was later renamed from Milford Haven to Milford Sound by Captain John Lort Stokes, who quite frankly should have known better as I mentioned before it is in fact a fjord, not a sound.

So after this fantastic trip, we headed back to Cascade Creek campsite, stopping of for a brief view of “The Chasm” waterfall which was a bit difficult to see as the path was restricted, but the walk amongst the trees was very refreshing. And now we had much better views in the sunlight. Not only was Lake Gunn looking very picturesque, the outskirts of the campsite was transformed into a meadow of vibrant blues and purples as the sun set. Right by the campsite was a field of those most beautiful of flowers in New Zealand, the lupins.

All in all, it was a fabulous day, the weather holding out for us again. We were now definitely on the way back up North, but we still had plenty of scenery and activities to do before we finished. Here’s the maps of where we travelled in the course of the two days we covered here.

Until next time, and I’ll try to not make it such a long gap.

Cheers