The Popular Cousin

The day after Jeremy's brother and fam left, one of our state-side friends arrived for a shortish visit. Trying to give him the most bang for his time, we headed up to spend the weekend in Te Anau so we could be in great position to meander around the Milford Sound area.  The road to Milford Sound from Te Anau is magnificent. And dangerous. While it's clearly not as dangerous as Skippers Canyon, which is one of the Top 10 most dangerous roads in the world, it is one of the most dangerous in New Zealand based on accidents and death-rate. It is the only road to Milford Sound, and as a result is inundated with tourists, some of whom forget that we drive on the left here... and that you're supposed to stop before you gawk. 

Our first pitstop on the road was at Mirror Lakes. It's quite literally just feet from the road, so every tour bus on the road stops. It is a very cool spot, but my goodness, after living in our tiny town for almost 3 months now, I was a bit overwhelmed by the crowd and quickly felt claustrophobic. So we pulled a Chevy Chase and quickly moved on.

I will note that on our way back to Te Anau just before dark that evening, the roads were almost completely empty and all but deserted. What a difference a few hours makes.

The streams in this area are primarily glacial runoff, and are saturated with rock flour. This one is in the Marion Lake area. As it is a wee hike in, it is NOT as populous as the more easily accessible spots.

Rock flour is the super-fine rock dust that is produced when the glacier retreats across a rock surface, crushing everything in it's path. The dust washes into the waterways and is actually is suspended in the water. The rock flour is what gives it this aquamarine color, though it can vary from very blue to very green here.

The trail to Marion Lake follows this stream up to a series of waterfalls so powerful that every drop of blue water is churning white. From there, it continues another 2.5km steeply up to a hanging basin. We did not torture tiny legs with a forced march to the lake. This time.

Back on the road, it dead ends at the Sound, right in front of Mitre Peak.

The sounds, being open to the sea, are subject to the tides. When the tide is out, you can walk a fair distance on the sandy flat. You might be able to see the buoys that mark the channel to the right. Day cruises are easily accessible. The overnight cruises at Milford book up months in advance. 

On the peak to the right of Mitre Peak, Bowen Falls careens off the mountainside. You can see the pier jutting out, marking the entrance to the harbor.

The native forests here are magical. It was beech trees such as these that gave Peter Jackson the model to use for the Ents in the LOTR movies.

It's not hard to see why. More than once, I've looked over my shoulder with the feeling I was being watched. I guarantee I was, but probably not by the trees. Probably.

This is a large Podocarp. It is said that they can live up to 1800 years, but there is not solid evidence of that and the idea is somewhat disputed. Regardless, they are clearly ancient and majestic, no matter how old they might be. 

On our way out of Milford Sound, we stopped at a super cool spot called The Chasm. These next 3 pics are very disappointing. I knew they would be even as I was taking them. But I also didn't want to end up in this predicament. 

It's just a hard place to photograph. But so very very very worth seeing. Upstream, the water swiftly moves towards a section of rock that has been eroded into a series of tunnels. We were there on a low-water day, but I imagine that after heavy rains, the water is pummeled through all of these smaller tunnels.

This is about a 40 foot drop into another series of tunnels. Jeremy took this video while I was complaining that my pics would be bad.  The direction-sensor on my camera is acting a bit wonky, so be prepared to cock your head, but you'll still get the idea.

After a great day in Milford, we pulled back into Te Anau just as dusk was coming on. We had the conversation about which is truly more beautiful, Doubtful Sound, or her more popular cousin, Milford Sound. If I had to pick one, I'd have to say Doubtful, if for no other reason than it just feels less inundated with people. But for the record, they're both among the best of the best in the world.