Along The Way

 

There are many beautiful spots to stop at along the road to Milford Sounds.

After entering the Fiordland National Park itself, it is not long before you begin driving alongside the Eglinton River and I was thrilled to see some early lupins in flower.

Further down the road there was a Viewpoint out in the middle of the flat glacier-carved Eglinton Valley.  The beech forest on the mountains here is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Area.

The area is also known as the site of the Misty Mountains in the Lord of the Rings movie, ‘Fellowship of the Ring.’

Another spot to stop is the Mirror Lakes.  There is now a proper access boardwalk that folk can walk along to view these mountain tarns.  Most of the view is of one lake only but the reflections are really pretty with the flax edging the water and the mountains towering in the background.

Lake Gun is another watery beauty.  It is one of the larger lakes to be seen and is a popular place to go trout fishing.

I’m not sure if Falls Creek is so named because of the rapids in the stream here, or because of all the waterfalls streaming down the mountain above it.

We eventually arrived at Milford Sound village and managed to find a park.  Parking can be quite a nightmare here, with one parking area that is charged for and a distant parking area that is free but is about 30 minutes walking away from the Cruise centre.

Parking is paid for once you arrive, and standing in the line to do so was our first major experience of the famous Sandflies of the area.  They swarmed around us so badly that you felt if you opened your mouth to say something, you would be swallowing sandflies. 

They can bite too and people without insect repellent could be seen swatting madly.  We had followed warnings and covered as much of our skin as possible (long sleeves etc.), and slathered lavender essential oil on the rest of our skin.  It worked! 

With a little time to spare before our Cruise was ready to leave, we went for a walk along the foreshore.

We managed to complete our walk before the rain set in, and had to coat up and use our umbrellas to walk around the bay to the Cruise centre.  From our paid parking it was about a ten minute walk - if you are on a bus you get delivered to the door!

It was only 1pm but we felt like we had already completed a full day of being a tourist.  We were about to embark on another full day with our afternoon cruise.  No wonder we felt shattered when we returned to Te Anau that night!

Margaret 😊