For my Norwegian friends, it is hard to deal with Fiord spelled with an “I” instead of a “J,” but I assure you, it isn’t a typo when travelling in New Zealand.
We started off with a rainy morning, and the tight maneuvering to top off water and get on the road resulted in a little “bump and scrape” on a stupid concrete barricade in my blind spot. It created a little drama over the next few weeks. The rental company wanted to get us a different van to drive around. It was a little tricky since we were quite a ways from Christchurch and had no plans on returning there. We ended up keeping the van for the remainder of the trip. Be sure and get the good insurance.
Heading into the Fiordlands was really dropping us into the crowds. We camped at Cascade Creek, which is about as close as you can get to Milford Sound. The plan was to get up early and get the boat on the water. Trying to do research and find out if it was legal for us to do so was a little tricky. We did a clean water certification online and talked to the rangers in Te Anau. Mostly just got strong cautions about watching the weather and the winds that rip into Milford Sound. It seemed to be OK, as long as we accepted the personal responsibility.
Every day, about 4000 people come down the tiny road into Milford. It goes through the scariest tunnel I have ever been through. It’s pretty trippy going down a very steep hill while you are inside of a tunnel. If my memory serves me right, there is a sharp right-hand turn at the bottom of the tunnel that is followed by a sheer drop. Even with our early start, we were probably the 200th person to show up around at 7 am. The water was perfectly calm, tide was low, and the skies were as clear as clear could be.
It was a great way to experience Milford Sound. The water can get quite rough, and we timed it perfectly. The wind picked up on our home stretch, and I am glad we got off the water when we did. Our little, yellow boat does okay when it gets rough, but it just really takes quite a while to get anywhere. The kayak tours started about an hour after we got on the water, and Milford has a pretty busy scenic flight schedule. There were two runways working, and there was a pretty constant stream of planes landing and taking off. You also need to be aware of the Milford Sound Cruise boats coming.
From where we were camping, there were many great hikes. We chose Lake Marian for our post paddle hike.
From the north side of Fjordlands, we made our way to the south side, so we could do one of our only tourist indulgences – an overnight cruise on Doubtful Sound.
Unlike Milford, it gets way less traffic. Maybe 200 people a day. It is mostly because you have to take a ferry from Manapouri, get on a bus that takes you over a super steep and sketchy pass – Barb was very brave – and then you get to the Sound. It is much larger than Milford, and even though you are on a boat with 38 other souls, you really feel like you are in the middle of nowhere.
Barb did a little kayak tour with a group, I chose the nature boat where I learned all about Birch Beer, Birch trees, tree avalanches, and lance wood trees.
It was a great 24 hours. Tons of great food, slept in the tiniest bed I have slept in since I left my crib, and didn’t have to drive anything, anywhere, on any roads.
