We got up bright and early the next day to get on the road to Milford Sound. We read that if you left Te Anau by 8am you'd beat the crowds, so we did, and didn't make any stops on the way up there. So here's the view from our car as we made the drive:
To get out there, we had to drive through the Homer Tunnel - a 1km tunnel that goes straight through a mountain. There are traffic lights at each end that switch direction every 15 minutes. Ryan took a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUOVUbVGfFY
To get out there, we had to drive through the Homer Tunnel - a 1km tunnel that goes straight through a mountain. There are traffic lights at each end that switch direction every 15 minutes. Ryan took a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUOVUbVGfFYWe arrived in Milford Sound and had beat all the bus and tour traffic and had the place to ourselves for a bit.
How gorgeous is this?
Hiking around in the sound:
We had lots of stops planned on the way back to Te Anau - the first was at The Chasm, an unbelieveably cool river and water fall that had cut through parts of the rock. There is no way to describe it and it was hard to get pictures, but you can sort of see that the water has eaten away at parts of the rock:
We then drove back through the Homer Tunnel and hiked around on the south side for quite a while:
Very rocky!
We then drove to Hollyford Road to go see Humbolt Falls. En route, we got a flat tyre. Once Ryan got the spare on, we aborted our trip to the falls (and the Key Summit) so we could get back to Te Anau in time to get new tyres.
We did stop right before getting back on the main road to check out Lake Marian. There was a pretty massive swing bridge to go over in order to get to the falls:
Marian Falls: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwTCAjxZdbU
How gorgeous is this?
Hiking around in the sound:
We had lots of stops planned on the way back to Te Anau - the first was at The Chasm, an unbelieveably cool river and water fall that had cut through parts of the rock. There is no way to describe it and it was hard to get pictures, but you can sort of see that the water has eaten away at parts of the rock:
We then drove back through the Homer Tunnel and hiked around on the south side for quite a while:
Very rocky!
We then drove to Hollyford Road to go see Humbolt Falls. En route, we got a flat tyre. Once Ryan got the spare on, we aborted our trip to the falls (and the Key Summit) so we could get back to Te Anau in time to get new tyres.
We did stop right before getting back on the main road to check out Lake Marian. There was a pretty massive swing bridge to go over in order to get to the falls:
Marian Falls: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwTCAjxZdbUOnce we got back to Te Anau we found a gas station/service center that was open and got us fixed up with two near tyres. While they were doing the work we all sat in the sunshine and had a drink:
We went to La Toscana for dinner for gluten free pizza:
We went to La Toscana for dinner for gluten free pizza:
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