P&A GoGoGo 2: milford sound

Tuesday, 27 November 2012

Lake Gunn Nature Walk, Lake Marian & Humbolt Falls

A beautiful morning! We started our day with an easy walk from our campsite at Cascade Creek, the Lake gunn nature walk. It says 45 min loop, but took us like 1.5 hrs! Its an ancient red beech tree forest, many birds flying around, with keas high up above the canopy.

Looks like an old tomato old man...

Next on, we went for the Lake Marian 3 hr return walk. Quite exhaustive with the climb up.. Passing few rock falls area which demolish some part of the forest. But the view of Marian Lake with surrounding mountains is totally worth it!

Marian Falls

Lake Marian*****

A must go in Fiordland... Such pristine lake... When there is no wind :p we spent 3 hours here just picnicking and relaxing.. The most beautiful lake so far, or maybe second best after Lake Manapouri. Hard to tell, Lake Manapouri is so massive, and this Lake Marian is small, like the perfect size with the mountains around.

Fun time at Lake Marian

Humbolt Falls***

Humbolt Falls 30min return, but we manage to make it in 15 min because we had to get out of the Lower Hollyford road before 6pm! That's because we spent half a day in Marian Lake and forgot other point of interest to see!

Beautiful Lupins at Mackay Creek DOC Camp

We stayed the night at Mackay creek doc campsite, $6 pp. Our most recommended DOC campsite along the Milford Road! Absolutely beautiful views of the Eglinton valley with snow capped mountains. And the pretty Lupins flowers that grows along the creek. So many colours! In fact they are not so beneficial to the plants and animals as they are too competitive!

Our last night in Milford Sound, see you again in future!

Monday, 26 November 2012

Milford Road, Mitre Peak & Key Summit

Very soon we will see one of the best views of NZ~~~ The very scenic Milford Road towards Milford Sound. Similar with Doubtful Sound, Milford sound is a fiord, an ice carved valley flooded by the sea.... Allow 2.5 hours from Te Anau to reach Milford Sound. Can't wait~

Took our first walk at Lake Mistletoe, 45 mins return walk. Nice and easy walk..

Driving on.. Stopping whenever we can to look at the beautiful views of the fiord =)

Mirror Lake, 10min walk. On a nice day it does its job as a mirror reflecting the mountain drop but not today ...

The friendliest and cheeky mountain parrot, Kea.. They love to chew on rubber stuff like boots, tyre, the cables... This one was chewing on our van's moon roof cable!

Homer tunnel right ahead there!

The tunnel took more than 60 years to build back in the.... Length of 1.2 km.... Upon passing the tunnel, we are so amazed with the views! So many waterfalls surrounding us as we drive down the mountain.

Milford Sound

Many people would take a cruise to view the fiord or an overnight trip in such wonderland. But since we had our expensive good times at Doubtful Sound (not to mention the search for crested penguins, kayaking around the fiord, scrumptious buffet dinner and so much unforgettable memories), we just had to skip Milford Sound cruise!

Mitre Peak on the left

We still manage to see the legendary Mitre Peak without the cruise :p with the easy 20min walk from the carpark. It was cloudy that morning but then it turned good! So nice! Mitre Peak is believed to be the highest mountain to rise out from the sea, standing at 1692metres.

An oystercatcher was sitting on nest on this branch. Everytime people get near it, it will squeak and then its partner would fly towards the 'enemy' to protect her and the eggs! How lovely...

We also took the Milford sound lookout track , a 10min track from the carpark but nothing spectacular

There is a from the Chasm to The Divide which closes at 6pm and reopens at 7.30am.. So we took the Key summit walk which is access through The Divide. It is a 3 hrs return walk, climbing up to 919 metres. Finally!!!! Rewarding views up here, OMG!