Wednesday was our first full day in the South Island. We had planned a trip out to Milford Sounds
and a cruise in the fjord, and left Te Anau at 7am that morning in order to
beat the worst of the traffic.
The road from Te Anau to Milford Sound is 120km long and not
the sort of road that an inexperienced or unconfident driver should attempt.
Traffic may not yet be up to pre-covid levels but it can be heavy
enough to be a real hazard (not much around at 7am though!).
Several places had stop-go areas because of roadworks, and the
road was frequently narrow and winding.
There are many beautiful places to stop (blog posts to
follow!) along this road, but the driver needs to be aware of what is coming
up. Too many accidents are caused by
people just stopping without warning because they have seen something that
caught their eye.
This alpine area can receive up to six metres (about twenty
feet) of rain each year, so it is rare to travel on a day without rain. Clouds come down from the mountains and they occasionally caused us visibility problems, so I was glad my companion was a good driver.
Rainfall also creates transitory waterfalls that can be a
major distraction to an unwary driver.
It really is an incredible road and time needs to be allowed
to see everything comfortably. It is not
a place to rush!
Officially, tourists are encouraged to take a coach tour but
we found driving ourselves meant we could stop and experience so much more
along the road.
Most of the journey has no cellphone coverage – and no
flushing toilets! Long-drops are common
at Department of Conservation camps, but proper toilets can only be found at
Knobs Flat, The Divide, and Milford Sounds itself.
Along the way one encounters the Homer Tunnel. This narrow 1.2km long tunnel is controlled either end by traffic lights, and one can wait here for up to 15 minutes during busy times.
Today (as I post this), we travelled from Invercargill to
Dunedin. A long day as we saw so
much. It is raining in Dunedin but we
have students on the neighbouring property who have a great noisy party
starting up out on their back lawn.
Hopefully we are both so tired that we will nevertheless
sleep soundly – or perhaps we should pray for some heavy rain to wash them
out!!!
(How nasty am I? LOL but to be fair it is Saturday night so
we should expect parties in a student place like Dunedin!)
Margaret 😊
Beautiful. Bringing back memories.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like a marvellous area. My daughter has always said that her dad will never die a natural death; he'll drive right off a cliff somewhere following a bird!
ReplyDeleteWell, I hope you don't do that David, but if you did this would be a dream place to do it :))
DeleteHello, I'm having a coffee and reading your post... and I wish you a wonderful journey, yes, my husband and I, we also prefer to travel with our car. Being independent is wonderful.
ReplyDeleteHave fun... I look forward to your further entries. Viola
Long Drops? I've never heard that term before but it is pretty self-explanatory. I cannot believe the number of waterfalls in that one picture. Amazing!
ReplyDeleteHaha, I think the official name is Vault Toilet but the originals didn't have a tank, were just a long hole in the ground. They aren't the best places smell-wise for a fastidious nose, but occasionally you will come across a composting one and they aren't so bad. What a subject to talk about! :))
DeleteSounds like a wonderful trip. Hope you slept well.
ReplyDeleteThey all went quiet at midnight - yay! So I had a good sleep :)
DeleteI can imagine the relief you felt when the party ended at midnight. Keep having fun. The scenery is awesome.
ReplyDeleteI hope you are enjoying it, the scenery in both the south and north island are completely different but beautiful in their own ways.
ReplyDeleteLove those waterfalls of NZ! It sounds like a wonderful journey, Margaret. Hope you got some sleep!
ReplyDeleteMargaret the photos are beautiful. I was born at Lumsden when we lived at Te Anau, so it was a little going home for me (F).
ReplyDeleteWonderful photos, what an amazing road to travel along, so many beautiful sights to see. I am glad to hear that you were able to find safe places to stop and take it all in.
ReplyDeleteWhat incredible scenery....I would not want to go on a tour, but sure would if that is all there was. But had rather have someone to drive with.
ReplyDelete