Making the Whole Trip Worthwhile in One Day

Our Circuitous Route for the Day

We knew the previous day would be long, so we built in some extra time in the morning.  We packed up, enjoyed breakfast with a beautiful view over the lake on what was proving to be -- and which would remain -- a sunny day.

We filled up the car before leaving Queenstown, as we knew chances to refuel would be far and few between.  We were driving to Milford Sound today, which everyone and thing had told us would be a highlight of the trip.  As the crow flies, it is only about 40 miles from Queenstown to the sound, but alas we had to take the one and only road, which involved a horseshoe-like route south, west, and then back north, totaling about 180 miles.  We had a cruise booked on the sound, and had allowed ourselves almost five hours to get there.  We did not want to take any chances, and we also did not want to miss opportunities to stop and look at things along the way.

Our drive took us to and through the town of Te Anau, where we would return to spend the night.  It is the only town on that portion of coast, and serves as the gateway to the Milford Sound and the Fjordland National Park.  The drive to Te Anau was over high plateau, with countless farms for sheep, cows, and red-tailed deer.  We stopped at a Subway restaurant, and got sandwiches to bring with us.  Lucky for us we did, as there would be -- quite literally -- no places for food outside of Te Anau.  Heading north from there, the landscape changed dramatically, as we entered the park.  It looked a lot of Grand Teton, with us driving along a flat and level valley, with steep snow-capped mountains rising dramatically in the near distance.  We passed, too, wide fields of lupines, which lined the several rivers snaking through the canyons.  With only one road in and out, we picked up traffic, and an inordinate number of camper vans.  The road got progressively steep and curvy, so the traffic didn't really matter, as we could only go as fast as the road would allow.  We drove up and down several mountains, and then -- with the GPS telling us we were relatively close to our destination, we encountered a stopped line of cars.  They were lined up at a traffic light, which was controlling one-way traffic through the Homer tunnel.  We'd later read that it is a mile-long tunnel, carved by hand out of solid rock.  It has a very steep 1:10 gradient, too.  While it could technically handle traffic in both directions, the sides are not sheer, and clearly show that it was hard carved, and with all the campers, I'm sure there would be lots of side-swipes if they allowed cars in both directions.  The tunnel opened up in 1954, took 19 years to build, and provided the then and still only access to Milford Sound by land.

On the other side, we drove down and through very steep-sided valleys with countless waterfalls on both sides.  We emerged just below a glacier, from which we could see torrents of melting water pouring.  The road on which we drove essentially ends at Milford sound.  There is a parking lot there, and the boat terminal, but you can go no further.  Everything going into there has to turn around at the lot, and go back the way they came.

Drive In, Toward Milford Sound

We still had, we thought, plenty of time to make our tour boat.  As we approached the lot, however, it was evident that things were not going smoothly.  The two lots were small, and we quickly surmised that they were full.  A lone parking attendant told us that if we didn't encounter someone leaving, we would have to drive 2 km back up the road, and park at the airport (used for helicopter tours of the park).  We still had to pick up our prepaid tickets, so K jumped out of the car to hit the ranger station, as we mistakenly thought we could get the tickets there, while Anna and I tried our luck at parking.  On our second time round, we encountered a camper van coming out of a spot, we thought.  I stopped and watched, and realized he was trying to repark, so he wasn't taking up two spots.  I got out and helped him, which left a spot JUST big enough for our car.  The car, as I wrote, was already dinged up, so I had no worries about the vehicles on either side denting a door.  I parked and then sprinted to find a parking machine.  The first two I encountered were out of service.  The same attendant with whom I'd spoken earlier said there was only one functioning, and the far side of the lot.  I then sprinted over there, and got in line. There were people of every nationality in line, and operating and even reading the instructions on the parking machine was proving difficult for many.  At this point, we had only 15 minutes before we were to leave.  The attendant appeared out of nowhere and told those of us in line to not worry about paying, and to get to the boat if we had tickets.  With that, I set about trying to locate Katherine.  We had no cell service here, so I wandered a bit before finding her.  The two of us rushed back to the car, told Anna to throw the sandwiches into a bag, and we then all walked very quickly, a couple hundred yards, down to the boat terminal.  I rushed ahead, as we still had to pick up our tickets.  The man said we were the last folks with reservations that could still make it, which was a relief.  The three of us joined up and got into line for the ship, which boarded almost exactly as we got in line.  There were four different companies running boat tours from the terminal, and we quickly spotted the Gate 1 group getting on a boat next to ours.

The weather had remained perfect for our visit, though we read that it is much more common to have fog, clouds, and/or rain.  The tour was about 90 minutes, and brought us all the way down the fjord, and into the Tasmin Sea for a short time, before heading back up.  The scenery was, simply put, everything I could have hoped for, and made it worth the trip to New Zealand -- in my opinion -- just to see what we were seeing then.

Milford Sound

Milford Sound

Milford Sound

Milford Sound

Sea Lions Grabbing Some Rays

Our walk back to the car was much less hurried, and we stopped at several places along the drive out, of  which we had made mental notes on the way in.  Though we were essentially backtracking, because of the change in sun angles, things looked very different on the drive back to Te Anau.

The Ship on Which We Had Just Returned

Walking Back to the Parking Lot

At our hotel, we again encountered the Gate 1 bus, as well as one from Tauck.  They were all staying in the main hotel, whereas we had a two-bedroom villa, set around back.  All was not smooth, however, as when we got to the room, the door was wide open and there were sheets piled up in the living room.  We didn't see towels and, in fact, it looked like they had been cleaning and then just stopped.  I tried calling the front desk, but the phone would not work; we later discovered a phone in one of the bedrooms had been off the hook, which is why I couldn't call out.  The front desk clerk returned with me, saw the condition, and immediately said they'd send someone to finish.  As soon as he left, the manager called, apologized, and asked our favorite wine, as he was sending a bottle over.  The wine arrived about the same time as the cleaners, so things were looking up.

Our Hotel in Te Anau

Some Complimentary Wine for Our Inconvenience

We had about half of our Two Towers movie to finish, and Anna suggested we get takeout and watch the movie.  Our unit had a DVD player, but when I tried it, it would not function.  I figured out that one of the RGB cable tails had snapped off.  I called the front desk again, making myself a downright pain in the butt.  Someone came right away, and I felt guilty while we three sipped our wine and he tried to fix the TV.  He finally agreed with my assessment that a new cable was needed.  He left to search for one, but he was not successful.

During our ride on the train from Christchurch to Greymouth, Anna's suitcase had been damaged.  When it came out of the luggage carriage, the plastic surrounding one of the four wheels had cracked.  It still rolled on two wheels, but we worried if it would not hold up when checked for flights.  We were flying to Auckland in the morning, and then we had three more flights before getting home, so we drove into town in search of duct tape, an RGB cable, and takeout.  The tape was, surprisingly, very easy to find, but the cable was elusive.  I had spotted a camera store on the way into town, and it struck me, as it seemed out of place in today's digital world.  I said if there was a parking spot, I would check it out, but with low expectations.  Someone pulled out just as we  drove by, so I jumped inside.  I found all kinds of cables to connect cell phones to computers, etc., but didn't see any RGB cables.  The nice woman working there asked if she could help.  I explained what I needed.  She'd never heard of an RGB cable, but pulled out two large boxes from under the register.  They were full of various old cables collected over the years.  She pulled them out randomly and asked if it was the right one.  Amazingly, she did pull one out of the second box.  I smiled and said I would take it, asking how much.  She smiled back, handed it to me, and said, "enjoy it."  With that, we were set for our movie.

We ditched the take-out idea and instead went to a local restaurant, where we all had salad and seafood.  We arrived back at the unit with plenty of time to finish our movie, repair Anna's suitcase, and repack for the morning's flight to Auckland.