Milford Road

Tuesday 2nd June: Congratulations on 9 years of marriage, Shane and Alison. Today dawned foggy and cold. The cloud level was very low and no sun penetrated and we began to think we had chosen a bad day for our long-awaited trip to Milford Sound. The trip is 240km (144 miles) return and goes through one of the passes of the Southern Alps. We set off around 11am as we wanted to get behind the tourist buses who all stop at the same places we want to. Once you have driven the first few minutes you are into Department of Conservation land and there are no homes or livestock, but there are some camping grounds early on for milder days.
The thick fog meant we could see little beyond the road edge, but then the sun started to appear so we decided to wait a while for it to burn off some of the fog. We stopped in a layby and made hot drinks, and suddenly mountains appeared! (see photo)
We carried on further and stopped at Mirror Lakes. Here the water is crystal clear and still and reflects the colours and shapes of the landscapes superbly (photo). A little further on we stopped to take photos at Lake Lochie (photo).
After 102km we came to the Homer Tunnel. We were now above recent snowfall level and the height and steepness of the surrounding mountains makes avalanches common in this area. I have read that it took 18 years to construct the tunnel, mostly I suspect because it was dug by 5 men with only picks, shovels and wheelbarrows. It is 1.2km long and has a 1 in 10 gradient downwards. It was narrow and scary and we have no idea what we are supposed to do if we had met one of the many coaches on this road. The tunnel finally opened in 1954.
The other side of the tunnel opened into an enormous valley with peaks of ever-increasing height on both sides. Our road wound its way down to lower in the valley and as we descended, a kea flew over us and stopped beside a layby on a road sign. Kea are only found in the Southern Alps of the South Island of NZ (and Bristol Zoo!) and are a mountain parrot. They are not endangered but are protected. They are cheeky and noisy and rip apart car tyres, backpacks and anything else that looks interesting. Only last week, in this same place, a coach stopped and as the coach driver reached into the luggage compartment for something, a kea swooped in, grabbed the passport of a British holidaymaker and flew off!
Now our experience with the kea was similar to that of my Dad on his first encounter with a chipmunk in Canada many years ago. In summary, I took many photos as I crept closer and closer, only to find it happily flew on to our wing mirror and ate from Steve’s hand!
We completed our drive to Milford Sound and booked a boat trip for tomorrow (last photo from path to wharf), then Steve helped some holidaymakers change the tyre on their campervan. Milford Sound only has the boat wharf and ticket hall, a café and a motel with some campervan spaces in the car park. No fuel, food etc but then most tourists drive, boat and drive back in one day. The campsite is shaded next to a river – so shaded in fact that yesterday’s (or last week’s, maybe) frost is still thick on everything. We put all the heating on and stayed in!