Haast Pass (older)
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Te Anau-Milford highway


This post was published on Thursday 17 January 2019.

We are still alive...! Ironically the post I tried to upload to say we’ve had no wi-fi or cell service for days, in a brief glimpse of 3G signal, failed to upload...

Anyway, we are now a long way behind, so I’m sitting in a café in Lake Tekapo trying to upload some photos and update our journal and this blog. I’ve been here for two hours already while Jess reads by the lake...

Where do we begin with the Te Anau–Milford highway? It was spectacular. We began the day in Arrowtown, and the drive to Te Anau was one of the most depressing drives of my life. We were in total cloud cover, and I knew there were beautiful mountains all around, but we couldn’t see them. After two and a half hours of that, I was in a proper mood...

Thankfully, ten minutes North of Te Anau the clouds cleared completely, and we had a view of Lake Te Anau (the largest body of fresh water in the Southern Hemisphere, apparently)...

Jess was driving, which meant I was able to plan a couple of walks along the way. At Milford Sound itself there is very little walking, because it is so inhospitable.

Eglinton Valley

The River Eglinton is one of the main rivers – it meets the Hollyford River at The Divide – and there are some spectacular views down the valley. We stopped off at one – along with a couple of coachloads (literally) of people. You have to be quite careful along the road (apparently one of the most dangerous in NZ) because of the number of coaches, most of which stop off at various places and disgorge huge numbers of people to enjoy (and of course photograph) the view.

Which of course we did too...

This is typical of the view you have for the two hours it takes to drive the Te Anau-Milford highway...

Key Summit

The first of the two walks was Key Summit, part of the Routeburn Track (one of NZ’s ‘Great Walks’). Because of Jess’s ankle she could only really do one of the two walks, so we decided she’d do the second walk, which was less of a climb – so I did this one on my own.

It was a long old climb, in hot weather – but the track was excellent, and the climb largely gradual, so it wasn’t particularly tough. And from the top it was really something.

Thanks to the gradual climb and excellent path, I was able to make it back down in double-quick time, which I needed to do, to make sure we had enough time to do the second walk, up to Lake Marian (which you can see in one of the pictures above.

Lake Marian

Slightly scary swing bridge!

Only 4km North of the Key Summit walk is the Hollyford Track, part of which includes a climb to Lake Marian. It’s not quite as advertised! It is a really tough climb, over mostly rocks and tree roots – nowhere near as easy as the Key Summit ascent! So we took our time, and kept an eye on Jess’s ankle.

The first bit of the walk is some amazing cascades – even though it’s summer here, the waterfalls and cascades are really something – with water thundering down. The water is so forceful, it’s actually bored holes in some pretty big rocks, so as the water pours over the rock, it also pours through the rock, like a colander!

https://youtu.be/KDHuu4S3fSQ
https://youtu.be/v8DhVU3H0d4

It was a big old climb, and a really hot day, which made it even harder. Along the way we passed various people coming down – looking a little smug, it has to be said! – and one of them kindly said it was worth it.

And boy was it.

Lake Marian

And of course, Jess went for a swim in the lake – which was freezing cold – but very refreshing. I confess on this occasion I wasn’t interested in swimming – having done two big climbs in quick succession, I was content to sit on a rock and rest my legs!

After soaking in the view for a bit longer, we carefully made our way back down the track, through the forest, and headed on our way to Milford Sound.

Here are our first views of Mitre Peak...

Homer Tunnel

In order to build a road from Te Anau to Milford Sound, they had to tunnel through 1.2km of granite... the resulting tunnel is called the Home Tunnel, which opened in 1953. It was begun by half a dozen men with pickaxes!

During the summer months it is controlled by traffic lights – but overnight, and during the rest of the year, you have to fend for yourself. It is just about wide enough for two cars to pass, but large coaches or big campervans struggle, so there are one or two passing lanes.

I can imagine it’s quite scary to drive in those conditions – it is long, dark, and steep.

Milford Sound

We drove straight past the Lodge (our home for the next two nights) and to Milford Sound, because the sun was out, and according to the forecast we had a significant amount of wind and rain on the way (boy did we) – so this was our only chance of seeing the Sound in the sun.

It might not have been at its best – the tide was out, and the sun was in the wrong place – but it is spectacular (I think I’m using that word rather too much, but I’m running out of adjectives for this place!). Everywhere you look are stunning granite mountains, rising up from sea level, making them even more spectacular – most of them are as high or higher than Ben Nevis.

After that we headed to the Lodge to check in, and have some dinner at the restaurant – some more delicious beef and lamb – and settled in, ready for the weather to break overnight...

But we weren’t quite expecting what came!

 Haast Pass (older)
(newer) Mount Cook