This morning we planned to head out toward Milford Sound and stop on the way at Gertrude Valley to climb up to Gertrude Saddle. This is advertised as a 4 hour return hike for experienced hikers only and since it include chains to assist in several areas over rocks it can only be done when it is dry. The skies this morning in Te Anau are cloudy but with the forecast of breaking up later in the morning. So we packed the lunches, dressed to hike and hit the road.
The drive to Gertrude Valley is poorly described but since it is just off the road we felt comfortable finding the valley and then the trailhead. Of course the trailhead is just a marker and the route up to Gertrude Saddle is more a route than a marked trail.
Now the road to Milford Sound is measured to be about 119 km from Te Anau but we are told with the narrow twisty road to allow 2 hours for the drive. This description was not really accurate for the first part of the trip as we drove on relatively normal roads (for New Zealand) as we approached the community of Te Anau Downs. Te Anau Downs is a farming community which is the only other community to be found along Te Anau Lake. This area reminded me a lot of some of the farms and mountains around Kamloops. However, the trees on these mountains are different.
After we left this area we next passed an area called Mirror Lake which is suppose to have wonderful reflections of the mountains but since we are on the quest to go hiking we did not stop. Besides the clouds are still hanging over the mountains tops and things are looking worse rather than better.
The road started to get narrower (if possible) and winder so now we were going slower. It was a concern that the clouds seemed to be getting lower (or as we drove higher in the mountain) we got closer and by the time we got to Gertrude Valley it was sprinkling. We stopped and had a look at the trailhead but wisdom indicated that it would not be wise to hike up to the saddle with the rain and low clouds. Wes was really disappointed since he has been looking forward to this hike for quite a few days.
Other than going over several one lane bridges and even a section of the road cut into the bank that was only one lane wide, we came to the Homer Tunnel. Homer Tunnel is a road tunnel in the Fiordland region of the South Island of New Zealand, opened in 1954. New Zealand State Highway 94 passes through the tunnel, linking Milford Sound to Te Anau and Queenstown, by piercing the Main Divide at the Homer Saddle. It connects between the valley of the Eglinton and Hollyford Rivers to the east and that of the Cleddau to the west. The tunnel is straight and was originally single-lane and gravel-surfaced. The tunnel walls remain unlined granite. The east portal end is at 945 m elevation; the tunnel runs 1270 m at approximately a 1:10 gradient down to the western portal. Until it was sealed and enlarged it was the longest gravel-surfaced tunnel in the world.
Government workers began the tunnel in 1935 after lobbying by J. Cockburn of the Southland Progress League. The tunnel and the associated Milford Road were built by relief workers during the Depression, initially just starting with five men using picks and wheelbarrows. The men had to live in tents in a mountainous area where there might be no direct sunlight for half of the year. At least three were killed by avalanches over the coming decades.
Progress was slow, with difficult conditions including fractures in the rock bringing snow flows into the tunnel. Compressors and a powerhouse in the nearby river were eventually built to pump out 40,000 litres of water per hour. Work was also interrupted by World War II (though the actual piercing of the mountain had successfully been achieved in 1940), and an avalanche in 1945 which destroyed the eastern tunnel portal. These problems delayed the tunnel's completion and opening until 1954.
Once we got through the tunnel we were surprised at the height we were at and how far down we had to drop to reach the bottom. So we started heading down a very steep road that had full 180 degree switchbacks in order to get an acceptable grade for travel.
Since we were not going to go hiking we took time to stop at The Chasm for a short walk. What an incredible natural carving sight this was. The water has sculptured the rock in pockets and shapes and the process continues today with the fast moving water. When we returned to the car we were delighted to find 4 Kea (parrots) visiting the cars. I took some pictures but when they started to pick at the cars we decided it was time to leave. We had been told that they will pick and be destructive so the cuteness dissipated.
We arrived into Milford Sound to learn that it really is a VERY small community – if it is a community at all. Really it is much like Lake Louise – hotels, campsites and a few houses. The largest facility is the visitor’s center which really was a port for the cruises and cruise lines. Since we had decided that the weather was not going to clear up for us to take a hike, we choose to take the Milford Sound cruise this afternoon.
Milford Sound (Piopiotahi in Māori) is a fjord in the south west of New Zealand's South Island, within Fiordland National Park and the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage site. It has been judged the world's top travel destination in an international survey (the 2008 Travelers' Choice Destinations Awards by TripAdvisor) and is acclaimed as New Zealand's most famous tourist destination. Rudyard Kipling had previously called it the eighth Wonder of the World. (A Sound is created by a river carving out the rock and a Fjord is created by glaciers carving out the rock.)
Milford Sound runs 15 kilometres inland from the Tasman Sea at Dale Point - the mouth of the fiord - and is surrounded by sheer rock faces that rise 1,200 metres (3,900 ft) or more on either side. Among the peaks are The Elephant at 1,517 metres (4,977 ft), said to resemble an elephant's head, and The Lion, 1,302 metres (4,272 ft), in the shape of a crouching lion. Lush rain forests cling precariously to these cliffs, while seals, penguins, and dolphins frequent the waters and whales can be seen sometimes.
Milford Sound sports two permanent waterfalls all year round, Lady Bowen Falls and Stirling Falls. After heavy rain however, many hundreds of temporary waterfalls can be seen running down the steep sided rock faces that line the fiord. They are fed by rain water drenched moss and will last a few days at most once the rain stops.
With a mean annual rainfall of 6,813 mm on 182 days a year, a high level even for the West Coast, Milford Sound is known as the wettest inhabited place in New Zealand and one of the wettest in the world. Rainfall can reach 250 mm during a span of 24 hours. The rainfall creates dozens of temporary waterfalls (as well as a number of major, more permanent ones) cascading down the cliff faces, some reaching a thousand metres in length. Smaller falls from such heights may never reach the bottom of the sound, drifting away in the wind.
Accumulated rainwater can at times cause portions of the rain forest to lose their grip on the sheer cliff faces, resulting in tree avalanches into the sound. (For those of us familiar with snow avalanches, we recognized the scaring.) The re-growth of the rain forest after these avalanches can be seen in several locations along the sound.
Milford Sound was initially overlooked by European explorers, because its narrow entry did not appear to lead into such large interior bays. Sailing ship captains such as James Cook, who bypassed Milford Sound on his journeys for just this reason, also feared venturing too close to the steep mountainsides, afraid that wind conditions would prevent escape.
The fjord was a playground for local Maori who had acquired a large amount of local marine knowledge including tidal patterns and fish feeding patterns over generations prior to European arrival. The fjord remained undiscovered by Europoeans until a sealer by the name of Captain John Grono discovered it in around 1812 and named it Milford Haven after his homeland in Wales. Captain John Lort Stokes later renamed Milford Haven as Milford Sound.
While Fiordland as such remained one of the least-explored areas of New Zealand up to the 20th century, Milford Sound's natural beauty soon attracted national and international renown, and led to the discovery of the Mackinnon Pass in 1888, soon to become a part of the new Milford Track, an early walking tourism trail. In the same year, the low watershed saddle between the Hollyford River and the Cleddau River was discovered, where the Homer Tunnel was to be developed about sixty years later to provide road access.
The cruise was absolutely incredible. We sailed down the sound passing several waterfalls and watched seals lay on the rocks. One of the highlights was when we stopped by the waterfall and the captain put the front of the boat up to the edge of the waterfall so we could take pictures from below. (We stayed back for pictures far enough to keep the camera dry.) He did this for a two falls in total. Then as we headed out of the Sound into the open water of the Tasman Sea we enjoyed a bit of the swell action and waves rocking the boat. We finally turned around and headed back into the Sound.
On the way back we stopped at the Marine Discovery center which is a special platform with an underwater viewing windows looking into the ocean 50 feet below the surface. The location of this platform is critical since it has to be at an place where marine life can be viewed and at the same time the platform is secure from waves, winds and storms. This area is unique because of the volume of rain water that comes down so there is a lot of tannins in the water and with the high sided cliffs on each side the water has filtered light. This is important since the marine life that can be found at the 50 foot level usually can not be seen this close to the service since they need filtered light (often 300 feet depth). For example black coral grows here and we were able to view them from the windows. I was able to take a lot of pictures of marine life but can only post a few.
After we left here we headed out to find our campsite. We had booked for two nights here but with the forecast of rain for the next two days and our inability to do any hiking, we cancelled the second night and stayed for just one night. We had been fortunate in that although there were clouds hanging overhead and hooked onto the top of the mountains along the Sound, we did not get rained on. This ended at dinner time. Tonight the rain would start and it was likely to stay for the next two days. Such is life at Milford Sound.
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