Te Anau & Milford
The town of Te Anau is located on big, beautiful Lake Te Anau. The town is big enough to have all amenities, but small enough to not feel congested. Our B&B is very near the beach and Park visitors' center. A walking trail, located near our accommodations, extends for many miles into the surrounding natural areas. Our hostess was from Chile, a very nice woman. She came for a short stay.... eleven years ago. We heard similar stories from others we met.
As you can see from the size of the boat, Lake Te Anau is a very large lake. This beautiful boat, "Faith", was tied up to the dock at the end of main street Te Anau.
If you don't like the other picture, we found a real 'fixer upper" in a nearby yacht basin.
Te Anau is the gateway to Milford Sound. The drive to the Sound (actually a fjord) is 75 miles of narrow, winding road with no roadside services. In some places it is a single lane, including a single-lane unlined tunnel. Driving there, we encountered a recent accident; a vehicle gone over an embankment, standing on its nose, resting against some trees. On the way back, that crash had been cleared, but we encountered another accident where a vehicle had skidded across lanes, did a "180" slide, and laid on its side in the shrubbery. The speed limit in most places is 100 kph (62 mph), but your common sense says that is too fast. Many tourists take that road. Could these accidents be the result of driving on the wrong side? We are glad to be driving a smallish Toyota hatchback rather than one of the many camper vans.
View from the dock on Milford Sound. Beautiful surroundings!
View looking inland from a tour boat on the fjord; rocky, steep mountains.
It had rained the night before our visit, and many waterfalls were cascading off the steep walls which could easily be 500' high.
Milford Sound is interesting, but our judgement was that it is not a "have to see" destination. Some say Doubtful Sound is better, and, of course, if you visit Doubtful, then they will tell you about another fjord which is even more scenic. I think it is a case of "one-up-manship". Towering sheer rock walls with many waterfalls but that can be seen in any area with fjords. We found other equally interesting sights at road pull offs along the route.
What are we looking at? We are peering vertically into a deep crevice worn in the rock with a stream gushing through the gap below.
Te Anau is the gateway to Milford Sound. The drive to the Sound (actually a fjord) is 75 miles of narrow, winding road with no roadside services. In some places it is a single lane, including a single-lane unlined tunnel. Driving there, we encountered a recent accident; a vehicle gone over an embankment, standing on its nose, resting against some trees. On the way back, that crash had been cleared, but we encountered another accident where a vehicle had skidded across lanes, did a "180" slide, and laid on its side in the shrubbery. The speed limit in most places is 100 kph (62 mph), but your common sense says that is too fast. Many tourists take that road. Could these accidents be the result of driving on the wrong side? We are glad to be driving a smallish Toyota hatchback rather than one of the many camper vans.
Milford Sound is interesting, but our judgement was that it is not a "have to see" destination. Some say Doubtful Sound is better, and, of course, if you visit Doubtful, then they will tell you about another fjord which is even more scenic. I think it is a case of "one-up-manship". Towering sheer rock walls with many waterfalls but that can be seen in any area with fjords. We found other equally interesting sights at road pull offs along the route.
posted by Wayne Grabow | 1:35 AM
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