Milford Road Marvels

Wednesday 11 February

A big day out on the Milford Road again - sunshine after the rain, and time to just potter wherever took our fancy.

Sunshine on the mountain tops, then low sausages of cloud clearing from the valleys. Tui, weka, honk wahs and chaffinches all around the camp.

We set off around 10am in search of kea and waterfalls. First stop, the reflections on Lake Gunn which were stunning, then on to Monkey Creek - no kea - and along to the Homer Tunnel.

One kea perched atop a car ahead of us, and rode all the way up to the tunnel entrance then flew up & sat above the cavernous tunnel mouth, counting us all through! The mountains were so tall on the Milford Sound side, the sun had not managed to climb high enough to peep over until after 11am!

Still no kea, so we turned and followed an Aston Martin back through the tunnel, stopped to check out Gertrude Saddle (clearly a terrifying track judging by the informative warning notices!), past the point where tectonic movement has sheered a slice of cliff face away from the main mountainside - an impressive reminder of the force that created these imposing mountains. Then back via Monkey Creek where 3 coaches had stopped and hundreds of people were watching two cheeky kea hopping around, so naturally we joined them! I loved the juxtaposition of the real kea by the poster of one on the side of the bus! The bus driver opened the luggage hatch at one point, and one of the kea promptly zoomed up to check inside! Sadly I had my Canon camera set on TV/Shutter priority to capture waterfalls in a steady flow so all my "perfect" zoom shots turned out to be very fuzzy & blurry.

Mission accomplished, we turned our attention to waterfalls, taking the Hollyford Road to the Humboldt Falls. It's about 17km from the junction to the falls and about 3kms in we spotted hitchhikers so stopped to pick them up - though it was a huge squeeze with all their gear and ours in the Pajero. Sean & Emma were from Seattle and were delighted to be saving about 2-3 hours of walking to the end of the road. They were about to commence a 10 day trip, pack rafting down the Hollyford River then bushwhacking their way back to Milford Sound! They would be out in the wilderness for around 8-10 days with almost no comms and just the equipment and food they could carry in - not my kind of adventure, but it sounded amazing.

Instead, at the end of the road we took the zigzag track up to the lookout for the Humboldt Falls which was a little disappointing, then came back and had a picnic lunch on a log alongside the Hollyford River.

Heading back we stopped at Moraine Creek with a cool swing bridge leading to a bushwhacking path - “expert level” - so we turned back again! Basically that meant no marked path, just pink triangles pinned to tree trunks and stones, and you had to navigate your way between them, cutting your own path through the bush. We enjoyed checking out the rapids under the Moraine Creek swing bridge and carried on back to the Marian Falls car park which was super busy. We soon found out why - the track from there leads to Lake Marian, and past the Marian Falls which were truly glorious. The different sections of the falls were all hypnotic to watch as the water crashed and bounced and sprayed over the rocks and though little ravines.

Back at the Camp we chilled - Louis snoozed while I went wandering and met Isaac from San Diego - he was keen to see kea & kiwi and we talked about other NZ bird life he was likely to see around here - including the Honk-Wah duck family who were just hanging out at the camp (Mum, Dad, 2 males and 2 females - the teenage offspring all looked similar in colouring, except the females' heads were dappling grey as their white head feathers came through).

When Louis woke, we walked to Lake Gunn so he could have a dip (wind had made it a bit choppy for kayaking), but it was a bit chilly for more than a 3 second immersion - he was very brave!

Back at Banjo dinner in the evening light outside the van and watched the birds again - tuis and bell birds feasting on the harakeke blooms… Loving Cascade Creek camp!

EXTRA - Kepler Day 3 for the Fernandi

Bluer skies, and no rain - just leftover mud and roaring waterfalls to show for yesterday's downpours. Lovely lakeside Moturau hut with sunset views to die for.