Milford Sound and the Catlins
7th August 2006
Having dragged oursleves away from the excitement of Queenstown and our snow boarding adventures, we set out to complete our southern loop of the South Island, via Milford Sound and the Catlins.
Milford Sound is in the heart of Fjiordland, another of New Zealand’s world heritage areas. To access Milford Sound, we took our trusty spaceship up over the Southern Alps, on what has to be the most scenic drive we have done to date. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to stop and take too many photos, as at this time of year the pass we were travelling on is prone to avalanches and therefore stopping is illegal. You will just have to take my word for it, the scenery was amazing, travelling through glacier cut valleys, with sheer walls going up over a mile on either side to snow capped peaks.
When we arrived at Milford itself, we booked ourselves onto a cruise on the sound (a fjiord) for the following day and settled down at our camp site for the night. There is not much to do in Milford, other than take a cruise on the sound, therefore, we passed the evening with a bottle of cheap Aussie wine, and a jigsaw, rock and roll eh?
When we awoke the next day, it was pretty cold, but we were lucky enough to have a clear day, which made the scenery all the more amazing. This place gets over 7m of rainfall per annum, apparently it rains on average 200 days a year, therefore to get clear blue skies and a view of all the peaks was enough to compensate for the antartic like temperatures. We set our on our cruise on the fjiord, to be wowed by the likes of Mite peak (over a mile high sheer rock face coming down to the fjiord) and several waterfalls crashing down from up in the heavens.
The cruise lasted about 2 hours, taking us out into the Tasman sea. The photos will do the scenery much more justice than my limited vocab….but I think the geordie expression would be something along the lines of ‘some canny cliffs like’ (with expletive placed anywhere you like). We were also lucky enough to see a couple of yellow eyed penguins knocking around on the shore line, although more of those fellas later!
Afting successfully navigating our way back over the Southern Alps, we headed down to the southern most city in New Zealand, Invercargil. This was the first place we have visited in New Zealand that we haven’t really liked, so only stayed in town for 1 night. I guess it is true wherever you come in the world, the south just dosn’t quite live up to the standards set further North! Despite the fact that we were in the city on a Saturday night, the liveliest place appeared to be the local reformist church. The whole population (male and female) appeared to be behind the wheel of their badly pimped boy racers, doing circuits of the one main road in town, trying to look cool / menacing / closley related to one another. We took refuge in the local cinema and made plans for our early escape the next morning.
Our route continued around the bottom of the South Island, through an area called ‘The Catlins’, full of rugged costal scenery, with loads of free sights to take in, such as waterfalls, various little bays, the southernmost point in New Zealand, etc, etc. The highlight of our trip however, was when we pulled into ‘Roaring Bay’ just before dusk. This place is a known nesting area for yellow eyed penguins, which are apparantly the rarest penguins in the world. We were the only people there, and took our position in a little hide on the side of the cliff overlooking the bay. Almost immediatley we spooted a group of penguins, making their way up the cliff in front of us to their nest sites (which can be 100m + from the sea). Shortly after, 4 more Penguins emerged from the sea in front of us, waddled across the beach and also started climbing up the cliffs. In the next 45 mins or so, we saw 12 Penguins in total, not bad given their are only 3,000 pairs of these things left in the world, and what is more, we got to see them in their natural habitat!
Having left the penguins alone to nest down for the night, we headed up to the city of Dunedin in the evening, starting out on the home straight for us in New Zealand as we head back up North towards Christchurch. Dunedin is apparantly Celtic for Edinburgh, as this place was first settled by the sweaty socks. Just like every time I have been up to Scotland, it has pi$$ed it down here since we have arrived, so it appears the name is apt. In order to avoid the rain, we have spent our first day here (today) visiting the Cadbury factory, and the Speights brewery, free chocolate and beer, so despite the rain, we are both extremely happy!
Tags: Avalanche, New Zealand
Chris and Charl
More great pics! You look so happy snow boarding (and loved the “outfit” Charlotte!)
Glad you didn’t see any avalanches on your drive to Milford. Pics at Nugget Point beautiful (sunset or sunrise – not sure) and also Bowen Falls and the great images reflected in the water. Hope weather not too cold for you – still very HOT here!
Hi Mum!
Glad you liked the photos!
Weather has been a bit brighter for the last couple of days here, although the mornings are cold when you have to climb out of the van to go to the loo!
Looking forward now to catching some sun up in fiji next week!