South Island Trip Day #7

Day 7 was the big day at Milford Sound. For those of you who don't know, Milford Sound is supposed to be one of the most beautiful places in New Zealand. You get to see the ocean, cool wildlife and find cool shells on the beach..... that is if it isn't raining, which is does, 364/365 days a year, and if you aren't being attacked by sandflies the entire day.

We arrived that morning after making a quick stop at The Chasm, which was cool, but it was down pouring and cold so probably not worth the 20 minute hike in the long run. After the stop at The Chasm, we drove through Homer Tunnel which was dug by like 5 guys over a long period of time (if you're more interested, I suggest you wiki it) and then finally we arrived at Milford and what was it doing outside...... you guessed it...... pouring!!! So we went on a short hike to get the "big view" of Milford and we couldn't see anything through all the fog and the giant raindrops falling from the sky. After the descend we went into the information center to dry off a bit and to see how much the Milford Cruise costs (super expensive, but from what I hear, worth it) and we decided against going and just sat in the car to see if the rain would clear off so we could get an actual view of the sound.

Turns out, the waiting served us well. At about 2pm (after waiting about 3 hours) the rain finally stopped and the clouds  disappeared for the most part. Turns out, when people say that Milford is gorgeous, they aren't lying. It was absolutely gorgeous! Words really can't describe the landscape so I'll post a picture for you to feast your eyes upon!

Not too bad, aye?


After saying goodbye to Milford after spending hours looking for shells on the beach, we started the drive back to Te Anau, but on the way we wanted to stop at Mirror Lakes and eat dinner. Mirror Lakes was pretty awesome. It gave us the view that Lake Matheson would have given us if it hadn't been so ridiculously cloudy the day that we went there. Another cool thing about Mirror Lakes were the little duck like creatures called scaups. These things will actually dive underwater for like 20-30 seconds and then just pop back up in some other place. We got lots of amusement from watching them dive down and then pop back up.

 We then left Mirror Lakes to head to Mavora Lakes for the next day. For those of you who don't know, Mavora Lakes is where they shot parts of the the Lord of the Rings Triology. But.... while driving there, we saw the most beautiful sight at Te Anau Lake (the one we ate dinner at the night before). The light was hitting the lake in the most gorgeous way that it actually turned the lake an extremely blue color that was almost as beautiful as Milford was (for pictures, check out facebook). After leaving the lake, we were definitely on our way to Mavora Lakes but of course there was going to be one more stop. And what was that stop for, you ask? It was for Becca to chase a sheep down the road in order to take a picture. Her exact words upon re-entering the car "I did not get the picture, but I did chase it and scare it that way."

You've read it folks, my best friend, is a sheep chasing freak.