(written on the 9th and 10th from notes taken previously)
Of course it would be cloudy and rainy today. 😆 It was nice yesterday. I could have driven down to Milford Sound last night, but I didn’t, and now… it’s rainy with clouds covering the stunning views.
Those were my thoughts this morning when I looked out the windows of my van and saw the weather, wondering if I should even bother driving in.
Those feelings would change, however.
After hemming and hawing for a bit, I decided that since I was already there, I might as well drive in and at least see what I could see.
I remembered having done that drive on my trip with Chase. It was one of the most beautiful drives of the whole trip. Both Chase and I felt the same: People rave about Milford Sound, but to me, the drive to Milford Sound is where the real magic is found.
Granted, I haven’t actually gone out on a boat to do the Milford Sound cruise. I’m sure it’s absolutely beautiful, but I remember last time that chase and I walked down to the water and were able to see all the way from where we were to the end of the sound where the open ocean began.
With that view, it seemed pretty clear that we had already witnessed the most stunning of the scenery in the area on the drive in.
I remember it being beautiful, but I wasn’t expecting today.
Wow. 😁
Oh, how I wish the pictures did this place justice!
As you drive into the mountains, they get steeper and steeper until you’ve got towering cliffs on both sides of you.
With the clouds and rain, you couldn’t see the tops, but it also made for some beautiful vistas of wet cliff faces and extra water added to the waterfalls.
Eventually, the valley runs out, and you’re left staring at mountain all around you.
But do you see that dark spot near the bottom, right-hand corner of the above picture?
“Yes, there’s a path… and then… a tunnel… It’s the only way. Go in, or go back.”
~ Gollum
A stoplight directs drivers to take their turn into a one-lane tunnel that fairly steeply descends through something like 1200 meters of solid rock, opening up into a reverse horseshoe-shaped mega cliff on the other side.
And holy…
😶
😲
I think I might have let out an audible wow as my eyes went wide and I stood on the gravel of a roadside turn out just staring in awe of the stunning vista.
Near-vertical walls, likely thousands of feet high on three sides of you with waterfalls streaming down as if God were up there with a great bucket pouring water out all along the ridges above.
One of the pullouts I stopped at and to take pictures from was called Hundred Falls, if that helps give you a mental picture.
I don’t know if there were that many, but it certainly was incredible. 😊
I look at the pictures I took, and they just… they don’t…
I stood there in stunned awe, it was… epic… magical… but the pictures… they feel almost… pedestrian. 😕
The drawbacks of cell phone cameras–however good they might be. 😅
Richard! Richard?!?
Where’s my brother Richard? I need a personal photographer. 🙃
[sigh]
So beautiful.
There was, however, a pretty brutal grounding reality that tempered the magical experience.
Sandflies.
Loads of sandflies.
Thickly buzzing about you ready to Dracula your blood from you. 😬
They were so numerous that it was a battle just to get my phone in position with all the settings how I wanted them without getting bitten.
[🪰🪰swipe! 🪰]
I stopped multiple times in different pullouts that had different vantage points, trying my hardest to capture that first scene, but it was no use.
At least my eyes and heart and soul could enjoy it. 😊
As I drove down the narrow canyon, I stopped here and there to snap pictures and take video to try to capture the magic.
My first actual destination stop was to a portion of the river called the Chasm, where, after escaping the sand flies at the car park, I followed a trail through the rainforest to a little lookout spot over the “chasm.”
Unfortunately, the bridge was padlocked closed for some reason, but I found a little trail off the beaten path that went down below that, after navigating a small, slippery drop off, brought me to the pool of water at the base of the chasm.
I snapped a handful of pictures from a couple of different viewpoints, some mid scramble down, and several once at the bottom.
Beautiful little spot. 😊
From there, I drove to Milford Sound, stopping here and there to take pictures of the breathtaking scenery.
With the rain, there wasn’t a whole lot to do at Milford Sound, and I’d been there before, so I found a little place to park with a beautiful view and just hung out there in my van, veging and enjoying the view–dry and free of the swarms of flying vampires. 🙃
I took more pictures, of course. 😊
Since it was getting late, I also went ahead and paid for another night at one of the DOC campgrounds. Upper Eglinton was full, but Walker Creek Campsite was also a small one (only five sites), so I snagged a spot there.
I made the loop around the parking area at the end of Milford Sound itself, staying in my car this time instead of getting out and walking all the way to the water like Chase and I did back in ’23.
And with that, it was time to head back, wanting to be sure to get to my campsite at a decent hour, as I think check-in (which I have no idea how actually works) was between 6:00 and 8:00, I think?
I stopped here and there on the drive back to take pictures, as always, delaying my anticipated arrival at the campsite till well after check-in time. 🙃
I seemed to be playing leap frog with a young woman driving a Honda Odyssey who was also stopping here and there to take pictures. 🙃
The last time I saw her, we actually stopped at the same place, but while she stayed up top on the walkway to a roadside waterfall, I went down below along the rocks to get the photo op from underneath the bridge. 😁
Beautiful ☺️
I passed a crash site not too long after, The car still up a little bit from the road, presumably high centered on rocks in the middle of the vegetation.
I couldn’t tell if it had rolled or not. It didn’t look like it had, but the doors on the passenger side were bent in a way that made it look like maybe it had rolled.
😬
Hopefully, everyone was okay. 🤞
I stopped for one last look-back picture as the valley opened up on the way to my campsite.
I arrived at Walker Creek Campsite well past my check-in time, I believe, but I think I was the only vehicle there anyway (At least when I first got there. Another vehicle arrived later, so I think there might have been two of us for the night?)
Wow. What a visual feast of a day. 😊
And to think, I wondered if it would even be worth driving in with the clouds and rain obscuring so much of the mountain views.
I guess it’s yet another example of how weather, time of day, time of year, etc can give completely different experiences that can all be just as incredible in their own way.
It’s going to rain again tomorrow, so I need to make the decision as to whether I’m going to hang out for one more day in Fiordland or if I’m going to head out and up toward Queenstown.
I guess we’ll see.
After a good, long vegeout, I crashed for the night.
Lift the world.
Bring it on.
~ stephen
Lift the World 