Te Anau Photos


Te Anau is the gateway to Milford and Doubtful Sounds and starting point for two Great Walks. Milford Sound is one of the rainiest places on earth and nine days without rain is considered a drought. Following a few days straight of rain, things cleared up just in time for our arrival. The Sound is actually fjord since it was carved by glaciers instead of rivers. As was my experience in Norway, the most spectacular views of fjords are at near the terminus. In fact, nearly all the professional photos of Milford Sound seem to have been taken from or very near to the dock. However, it's still worth a cruise or kayak ride to see the rest of it. It's unforgetable.

The Kepler Track and the Milford Track are two multi-day Great Walks around Fiordland. Both operate on a public hut system where overnight stays in the huts are reserved in advance. The demand for both trails is quite high, but Milford must be booked even farther in advance than Kepler. I don't plan ahead enough to have been able to reserve the huts, but I was able to do a 40km return day hike into the Kepler Trail to one of the summits and then back out again. The Milford Track is only 50km and I was seriously considering doing a one-day blitz of the entire trail, but I sprained my foot on the Kepler descent, so I'll have to save Milford for another visit. The Kepler summit provided the most diverse 360 degree view I could imagine. One one side was a fjord nested between both green and snow capped mountains and on the other was a flat grassland, lake, and town. Truly amazing. This is the New Zealand I had dreamed of.