milford drive

After waiting an extra day for good weather, we left early in the morning and made our way to Milford Sound. We had heard a lot about the Sound and Mitre Peak which pokes out from nearly every postcard rack in the country, but the drive to Milford was what impressed us the most. As we headed into the mountains we found ourselves flanked on either side by mountains rising thousands of feet from the valley floor.

The highway as we climbed into the higher elevations

If you look closely, you can see the road on the valley floor

The Homner Tunnel. The inside of the tunnel, which goes on for 5 minutes,
was gushing with water and looked like it had been carved out with a pick axe...a bit scary

Adjacent to the tunnel is a beautiful alpine walk with blooming alpine flowers, cirque views, and keas. Despite us being there near the summer the solstic, we still managed to get caught in a snow storm, which really added too the beatuy of the place.

Ginat Alpine Buttercup

In the snow storm

A shot of the valley in the snow

The cirque on the walk, complete with the customary waterfalls

The keas make a habit of hanging around by the tunnel, which opperates on a one-way light system. That gives the keas about 15 minutes to attack the cars and beg from the tourists, who will often feed them despite the repeated warnings and pleas not to. We were graced by a beautiful kea, who was either distracting us from his buddies or wasn't interested in the cars.

A real showman

A glimpse of the beautiful red feathers from the underside

Milford Sound, with Mitre Peak rising nearly 6,000 feet out of the water. Although it looks like a lake, this water goes out, through several kilometers of sounds, to the Tasman Sea.

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Okay, just a few more posts to go and we'll be caught up and ready to show you pictures of our new wwoofing place and the adorable goats we get to feed, milk and play with every day.