Fiordland Park : Forests, Mountains and Waterfalls
Fiordland National Park and Milford Sound were the highlight sight of my two weeks in New Zealand. It was one of the main reasons we came to Queenstown and I am glad to not be disappointed. There is only one road to Milford Sound and it goes through the Fiordland National Park. The drive through the valleys to see forests, mountains and waterfalls was my favorite part of the trip.
Milford Sound is one of the most well known sights in New Zealand and close to the tourist haven of Queenstown, so there are a lot of options to get out there. We decided against a day trip and did an overnight trip with Real Journeys, and I am so glad we did. Not just for the time on the boat in the quiet evening, but also for the time in the park itself. This drive turned out to be the best part of a really great trip. Milford Sound is the destination and the headliner. And it is indeed beautiful and worth a trip, but for me the park itself was more of a hit.
Ancient Beech Forest
I like forests and mountains. I am far happier in a shady forest than on a beach in the sun. That is probably why I enjoyed the drive so much. The beech forest feels very old and primeval. The moss hanging everywhere and the dampness in the air help that feeling. I have a pretty good imagination, but didn’t have to strain at all to see dinosaurs walking through the forest or dragons flying above it. Maybe some of it is knowing that Lord of the Rings was filmed in New Zealand, but it really is impressive scenery.
The weather we had was perfect. For a place that apparently rains 2 out of every 3 days, we had two days of blue skies. We definitely saw it rain in Queenstown, but not on our drive, which is amazing and let us get great pictures. I almost wish he had some rain though. Justin, our bus driver, told us that the number of waterfalls increases in the rain. The ones we saw were all snow melt.
Eglington Valley
The only road through the Fiordland National Park to Milford runs through three valleys. Each is very different from the other showing just how diverse New Zealand is even in a small area. The first, Eglington Valley, is a wide flat valley edged by tall mountains. Eglington Valley is also home to the Mirror Lakes. Unfortunately it was a windy enough not to get a perfect mirroring, but enough to see how cool the lakes are. I like the upside down sign that mirrors in the lake. (It took us a bit to realize it was intentional.)
Hollyford Valley
Rising up from the flat Eglington Valley we crossed into Hollyford Valley, a steeper forested valley. The Divide between the two valleys is the start to a lot of the hikes and tracks available in the park. Each way the bus dropped people off to go hiking.
This is an avalanche area. Although we were there in the summer the avalanche signs are still around. Our driver was telling us that there is a dedicated road team that works year round only on this road. Despite being there in the summer, the tops of the mountains are still covered in snow. We drove by a few places where the tress had all been ripped up. Justin explained that this wasn’t even the avalanche itself but the wind that is generated with so much snow moving all at once.
The one stop in Hollyford Valley on the way to Milford was at Monkey Creek. I filled up my water bottle at the encouragement of our driver, saying it was some of the cleanest purest water in the world. I got a picture of me acting like a monkey at Monkey creek.
Coming back we stopped at Pop’s View, named for a man who dedicated his life to the maintenance of the Milford Road. This view of the Hollyford River and the forests was one of my favorite of the trip. Standing here is where I really could almost see dinosaurs or dragons wandering in the woods.
Homer Tunnel
The top of Hollyford Valley is Homer Tunnel. This is a hole drilled through the mountain, a little over a kilometer long. The tunnel is so narrow that only one stream of traffic is allowed through at a time so we have to wait for a green light to go. It also angles down pretty sharply as it heads down toward Milford.
Coming through on the way back we stopped just outside of the tunnel and got out. The area around the mouth of the tunnel is amazing. There were snowmelt waterfalls all around. And although they look tiny, they are apparently more than a meter wide and a long way off. The distances are hard to judge as the mind has a hard time believing that this is real. The noise from the falls reaches that distance and really does sound like more water than it looks like.
We even saw a few Kea, the alpine parrots that only live there.
Cleddau Valley
The final valley that leads down from the tunnel to the sound is Cleddau Valley. Similar to Hollyford on the other side, with steep sides and forests.
The one stop here was at the Chasm. Just a few minute walk through the forest to a waterfall that has worn the rocks into a swiss cheese of holes. According to a sign, the river picks up a pebble in a depression in the rock and swirls it around for a while to wear it into that shape. There is a lower and an upper viewing platform, with the upper looking down into the rock holes.
And to Milford Sound….
The first impressions of Milford are grand, but that is another post. More information can be found here.
- Destination Fiordland – Regional Tourism Organization for Fiordland
- New Zealand Parks page on Fiordland
- Milford Sound daytrip – Great post at A Dangerous Business whose writing was where I first heard of Milford Sound.
Special thanks to Justin, our friendly and knowledgeable driver, and the great people at Real Journeys. They did give us a discount on our journey. Even so all views and opinions here are my own.
May 1, 2012 @ 3:44 am
Amazing views and nature photographs. Hollyford Valley looks like a great place to get lost in your own thoughts.
May 3, 2012 @ 9:19 am
Yeah, the valleys were all quite inspirational. Shame we were in a bus on a schedule, although it wasn’t so pushy as to feel horribly rushed.
Auckland, City of Sails – Harbor Tour » Grounded Traveler
February 27, 2012 @ 11:27 pm
[…] here, I secretly hoped to see a tropical island. The south seas with palm trees and pirates. The drive through Fiordland in the south was a start. The rain forests were just not warm enough and it didn’t really […]
February 23, 2012 @ 12:45 pm
Beauuutiful 🙂 I particularly love the Hollyford Valley.
February 25, 2012 @ 12:27 am
Yeah, it was my favorite of the three as well. Very expansive.
February 19, 2012 @ 9:26 pm
This is the second post I have seen today on New Zealand. Really sending it up to the top of the travel agenda. It looks Awesome!
February 20, 2012 @ 9:33 pm
Where did you see the other one? BTW if you are looking for even more, I just posted one on a steam train in NZ. And there will be more posts coming this spring as I work through pictures and places.
If you like outdoorsy activities, New Zealand definitely is a place to go. There is a lot of nature to experience and hiking trails. Rent a car if you can. On the other hand, if you like big cities and such, look somewhere else. NZ definitely has some neat little cities, but the islands main draw seems to be nature.
Steam Engine on an Island : Kingston Flyer » Grounded Traveler - Expat Adventures in Germany
February 19, 2012 @ 3:10 pm
[…] by no means the highlight of the Milford Sound and Fiordland trip, getting to see the train and take pictures was another of the many benefits to the overnight […]
February 13, 2012 @ 2:15 pm
Beautiful photos! I’m more of a mountains/forest person than a beach person as well. Must make it to NZ one day.
February 13, 2012 @ 9:31 pm
New Zealand has it all, terrain-wise. This was a great forest though. I am much more partial to oak trees, but the beeches(three types) were cool.
February 13, 2012 @ 9:44 am
What beautiful views! I completely understand why you loved this. I love the outdoors, mountains, and hiking and it’s places like this that make me love the outdoors so much.
February 13, 2012 @ 9:31 pm
Yup, this is definitely an outdoorsy area. Bring rain gear though. We kept hearing people talk about all the rain the area gets. And although we didn’t see any of it, it was still cool in the mornings in December during summer.
February 12, 2012 @ 11:04 pm
So glad to hear you enjoyed your trip to Milford (and thanks for linking my Milford post here!). I can’t wait to read about your overnight cruise.
February 13, 2012 @ 9:30 pm
Yeah it really was a good two days. The overnight cruise post is coming. Thanks for writing about Milford. I thin I first saw the pictures from one of your tweets even if it wasn’t one of your posts.
February 12, 2012 @ 10:14 am
We had kind of cloudy, overcast weather when we went but this was still a gorgeous place!
February 12, 2012 @ 11:46 am
Ugh. It was more cloudy heading home than on the way there. I really enjoyed the sun and think the rain could be neat to see. Cloudy though seems the worst of the options, but as you say it is such a beautiful place that I am sure it is enjoyable in all weather.
February 12, 2012 @ 9:44 am
What a great part of New Zealand…looks like you had a fun time exploring nature! I would love to go back to NZ and do the Routeburn Track….!
February 12, 2012 @ 11:44 am
The hiking in that area seems wonderful, though a lot of up and down. It was a great drive.
February 12, 2012 @ 9:33 am
You are such a GOOF! That picture of you pretending to be a monkey is hilarious. This really was a great trip, I had so much fun.
February 12, 2012 @ 11:43 am
I am a goof and I like it. I remember the girl who took the picture having no clue what I was doing and why it made sense. I enjoyed the trip too, my love.
February 11, 2012 @ 9:01 pm
Wow, really beautiful pictures, Andy! It looks super cool. New Zealand is high on my list of unique places I’d love to visit. It looks like you picked a great spot!
February 12, 2012 @ 11:42 am
Thanks Ariana. I’m enjoying your Turkey pictures too. New Zealand is great, especially if you like nature. This was indeed a great forest to go through. Kind of wish I was more into hiking.