“SH94 – A smorgasbord of oooh and ahhhs”

This morning, I noticed through the frosted window in the bathroom such amazing orange and fuchsia light blazing through. I raced out and Fred was already outside with his camera taking photos of the most stunning sunrise either of us has ever seen. On the western horizon, clouds were getting heavier.

Our helicopter pilot, Mike, called shortly and confirmed what we had feared. He said the weather was deteriorating and he didn’t think it would be an enjoyable flight. So we rescheduled for the following day.

We decided to take the opportunity to make our way to Milford Sound. But following Jessie’s advice to not drive on Milford Road until after 11am, we still had time for a hike. We drove a short bit to Rainbow Ridge and hiked to Shallow Bay, a portion of the Kepler Track. It was about a 2.5-hour return hike and mostly level with areas of chest-high ferns, vocal cicadas, and blankets of moss. The entrance was a huge swingbridge, followed by a slight uphill climb to a dramatic view, then another smaller swingbridge. There was also a bog to cross over well-maintained walkways, a viewpoint of wetlands, and it all culminated at an isolated beach along Lake Manapouri.

It was time now to head for Milford. We stopped at Te Anau to purchase some munchies and gas. Our first stop of interest was at the Earl Mountain Tracks pullout. Only 10 minutes in is a walkwire across the river. This was one of those trails that you are happy to have the orange triangles at frequent intervals to guide the way. There were some muddy areas we nicknamed The Tar Pits. I imagine that if budget doesn’t allow for a proper bridge, and the DOC needs to figure out how to get trampers from one side to the other safely, they engineer a walkwire. There are three cables, one for your feet and one for each hand. This was really a face-your-fears kind of adventure and I’m so glad we did this.

We continued on to Homer Tunnel. The weather, as predicted, started to get worse and it started raining. We sat at the Homer pullout and ate lunch. Fred did venture out of the car to take a picture of the waterfall there, but we nixed the idea of hiking to it.

Next stop was the Chasm. The rain had lessened to a mere drizzle. There were many cars parked in the carpark and naturally, many visitors on the trail. The Chasm itself was amazing. It reminded me of Tree Trunk Gorge on the North Island (which we had all to ourselves), but will a lot more tourists.

When we arrived at Milford Sound it was still drizzling on and off and there was a bit of a breeze. This did not deter the sandflies. We opted to go on the Foreshore Walk. We walked out as far as we could on the gravel shore so Fred could get some great shots of Bowen Falls and Mitre Peak.

On our return we stopped at Marion Lake Track and walked as far as the gantry. The water really rushes through there and is quite noisy. I would have liked to have hiked to Key Summit nearby, but you couldn’t see the top and the weather was too unpredictable.

A bit further up the road was a stop at Boyd Creek. It has a DOC green sign, but you have to open a paddock gate to drive in. There was no one there but us. It’s not advertised as a stopping point and the only reason we were there was because a geocache was inside. It led us down the hill to two beautiful waterfalls we would have never seen otherwise.

Driving home we muddled over our options regarding what to do if our heliflight was cancelled the following day. In all probability, it would be.

The Adventure Continues>>>