Te Anau and Milford Sound

February 12-14, 2009

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After finishing our gold panning in Arrowtown, we drove for about two hours to reach Te Anau. In the evening, we took a boat across Lake Te Anau and visited the glowworm cave. The tour involved a short walk into the cave, followed by a boat ride through part of the cave where there were no lights, the boat being propelled by the guide pulling on fixed ropes. The glowworms clung to the top and sides of the cave, lighting up and giving the illusion of looking at stars in the sky. We have no pictures of the glowworms or the inside of the cave, but the tour was definitely an interesting experience!

Following one night in Te Anau, we drove to Milford Sound, about a two-hour drive. The route is described as one of the most scenic in the country, and we made a couple of stops along the way. The road passes through the Homer Tunnel, which is a one-lane tunnel with traffic controlled by stoplights. Then the last part of the route heads down to the small town of Milford Sound at the end of Milford Sound (actually a mis-named fjord). Since we had missed our helicopter ride at Fox Glacier due to weather, we decided to try again here at Milford Sound, visiting the local helicopter operator. We were able to get on a ride where they picked us up on the other side of Homer Tunnel (after catching a bus to get back there), and flying back over to land on a glacier on Mt. Tutoko (2723 meters = 8934 feet). We landed at around 6500 feet or so. This mountain is not far from Milford Sound (which is of course at sea level), so you can see the incredible vertical relief of this area. The helicopter ride was definitely a highlight of our trip!

The next day we took a cruise on Milford Sound, which took us out to the Tasman Sea and back. The views were amazing! On the way back, we stopped at the Milford Deep Underwater Observatory, which is a floating building that extends underwater, where you can look through the windows and see the underwater life. That was an interesting experience as well!