Te Anau and the Milford Road

The road trip from Queenstown was yet again mountainous and breath taking, there were many great views. We pulled in off the road to look back on Lake Wakatipu.


The shingly shoreline of the lake.


A mountain that Wiji particularly liked the look of, and I liked the sky. We were doing an eye-spy car game of spotting potential 'Lord of the Rings' scenery. Our NZ map even had the place names and the actual film scenes relating to them recorded on the map too. The Lord of the Rings tours were being advertised everywhere. Sorry Jamie, we just haven't watched enough of them to make an actual pilgrimage.


Looking back at the said mountain and the beautiful sky.


We stopped to swap drivers, only to catch the hilarity of the 'I can't reverse my trailer scenario'. It was even funnier in this landlocked spot. At the time we found this really funny, but hey, you probably had to be there!


More airbrushed skies and fantasy landscapes.


When we arrived at Te Anau we booked ourselves into a Top 10 holiday Park, yes really. Top 10 are a chain, but independently run and were a good choice for us, especially after all the soggy nights. We decided to have a tent free, dry evening and 'get a room!' Lol.


After a fantastically comfy and cosy night of TV viewing (how novel) and having a takeaway we were really well rested and ready for the off to Milford Sound. It was still quite grey and rainy when we set off, and no doubt the tent was still wet too.

We stopped at the Te Anau Downs and saw the Scaup ducks that are indigenous. They were quite small and the male, on the right, had piercingly bright beady yellow eyes.


The mountains took on a mixture of moody purple and blue hues, but I just couldn't seem to capture it...


...Until further away from the lake we saw all the broom in flower and this seemed to really set the colours off and lift the flatness.


Travelling further on and heading up the Eglinton valley we started to see the mountain lupins...




Wiji took this nice shot that seemed to capture the vast planes of lupins. Jennypinn you would have loved it I think.


The mountainous sides of Eglinton flats.


Wiji reading up on the wildlife plaques.


After checking the map against the Lonely Planet, we pulled in at the mirror lakes. They were, after Lake Matheson, more pond-like we felt. Yes we had been a bit spoilt already! It was here that we saw a fantail darting about amongst the New Zealand flax.


Such epic distances sometimes feel so condensed and slightly unreal...


But they really are Mahoosive!


A bit of a reflection and a nice piccy of Wiji.


Oh how funny, yeah.




We stopped for a picnic lunch at Deer Flats, taking in a tranquil view of the snow capped mountains...


Sasquatch!


We then did the circular tramp at lake Gunn, where we read about the Beech tree Mast cycle. Usually beech trees flower very heavily every 3-5 years, this is called a mast year. As a result of this there is an increase in the numbers of predators such as stoats, mice and rats. This creates problems for native bird species.

It was so damp that the surrounding beech forest was thickly coated in various mosses...a miniature garden!


It was here that we saw the native Tomtit, a bit like a black robin, it was flying around near the ground level. We also saw the super quick fantail again.


I managed to spot what I later found out was a Silvereye, the size of our wren and very fast.


Huge chunks of lichen had been blown down in the storms...looks like a new super food, no?


From one of the plaques along the way we read about the beech gall, a mutation on the tree that progressively grows larger. Scientists don't know why it is caused. There were also signs warning against cutting them down, apparently wood turners love them!


Wiji nipping off down the track to spot the three species of beech tree in the forest.


Half way around the walk we came to a very windy vantage point that gave us a misty view across lake Gunn. The wind was picking up, so there were waves too.


Delicious lichens.


Across the river, too deep to cross, were some reddish bulbous mosses growing over the branches in the trees.


Wiji's top spot, a phallic mushroom!


A silent forest under all that moss.


When the sun did come out for a brief moment we caught sight of some more scaup ducks taking a breather from the current. The sun really lit up the clear waters.


We decided to leave the circular walk and follow the river leading off Lake Gunn.




Weather worn.


This lead us on to the DOC campsite Cascade Creek, and we agreed it was the most picturesque camp spot of the day, quite remote in feel and ideal.


We got back on the road just in time to miss another down pour and to make a quick stop at the vertigo inducing Kaka Creek lookout over the Hollyford river valley. Quite a lot of the view was shrouded in low cloud.




The rain continued, so we decided to go on a bit further and visit the Gunn's Camp and Museum.

The novel hand made drinks cooler set the tone in the car park...it was all a bit barking.


Outside on the lawn...


We found this hilarious...


After looking in the museum, that consisted of a huge variety of rusty old saw's and other pioneer land clearance paraphanalia. We took the time to read the story of Davy Gunn, the present owners father, who lead tourist expeditions over the mountains in the 1930's and 40's. Very, very pioneering, dangerous and thoroughly adventurous. With tales of losing one another on the mountain top in the mist and nearly falling off the summit. Sadly he later died when his horse slipped crossing a river, he could not swim.

One of the public works huts from the 1930's, complete with its own wood stove, available to stay in.


Looking at the huts and the grounds. The lady in the shop said that she didn't have a radio, but it was surely going to rain in this area. She was very helpful and agreed that we had picked the best place to camp, so on her recommendation and our first choice we headed back to Cascade Creek...


We got the wet tent out, while it was still raining and praised our trekking trousers for being soooo man made that they kept practically drying themselves! What a great spot, fortunately no one had got there before us, Wiji was relieved! Lol.

Camping at Cascade Creek.


Beautiful river views and a curry on the go!


With some red to keep us warm, the mountains in the distance starting to become covered in cloud.




'The chosen one'. Stolen from Harmood House for a culinary trip around the world! Having seen the campers fare of tomatoes and pasta, sometimes with mince, we decided to be more adventurous with our cooking in NZ, well we promised the spoon this.


Spotted in the river an eel. This one about a meter long...


The DOC rangers who came to collect our camping fees later confirmed that it was a short finned eel.


Eating the veg curry in the rain with gorgeous boy and our beautiful camp spot for the night. What you can't see, and what we will undoubtably forget about this beautiful spot were the clouds of biting sandlies! Lol.