On our last full day in Milford we woke early and were on the road just after 8am. We had a boat trip booked to explore the actual sounds and a fair bit of ground to cover between our camp and where we would board the boat. There was plenty of thick cloud hanging around as we set off and a few people heading in the same direction we were. Some one had been up long before us all setting out cones and black ice signs on any sections of the road you needed to take extra care on so we were happy to have the extra time to pull over and let impatient people past or see anything that caught our eye. It didn’t take long for us to find something worth stopping for. We rounded a bend and sitting in some car parks at the side of the road were a group of kea’s. Kea are a parrot native to NZ, they are incredibly intelligent and will actually seek out interaction with humans. Sadly their numbers are also dwindling so we were pretty happy to run into a group of eight of them here. We spent a good 15 minutes here watching these delightful birds interacting with anyone who stopped and their vehicles.
Eventually we pulled ourselves away from these glorious birds and headed on towards the Sounds. There’s only one road in here and one of the highlights of the drive is a trip through the Homer Tunnel. Once you’re through the tunnel and the mountain that it takes you through the valley seems to unfold before you. You zig zag down and down into this epic landscape. This is a corner of my country that really drives home to me how small a part of this big world we are, it’s easy to feel dwarfed by the size and grandeur of the peaks and valleys that surround you. Once you make your way down it’s a pretty glorious drive through bush and alongside the river until you finally make it to the end of the road. By this time it already felt like we had seen enough sights for one day but luckily for us it was just the beginning of our days adventure.
There was still a fair bit of cloud around the hills as we got on our boat and started cruising but Milford is one of those places that is stunning no matter what the weather. We had opted for the cruise that had the longest time on the water so we had plenty of time to wander around the boat and take in the views. The boys joined in with all the other tourists and stood at the front of the boat when they went in super close to a waterfall, I was quite happy to stay dry and watch from inside. The clouds lifted as we turned around to make our way back and the views were amazing.
After a stop at the underwater observatory our time on the sounds was shortly over. All that was left was to hop back in the car and make our way back to the bus. We made a few brief stops to look at things that had caught our attention on the way in but to be honest we were all feeling ready to just be home so we could enjoy the mountain views from our front window for a while before we moved on.
The next day was a bit of a special one in the bus, it was Oliver’s sixth birthday. He woke to pelting rain which was the perfect excuse for a slow morning opening presents and eating pancakes. Then it was time to head back to Te Anau where we planned to spend a night before heading on to somewhere new. I have to say I love celebrating our special moments in this low key way. Sure we did our best to include things in the day that Oliver would enjoy, a trip to the local bike park and a special birthday dinner. But it’s much less effort and work for me than I would have previously put in to birthday celebrations. Which it turns out equals a lot more time to actually spend with the birthday boy. It also turns out that just having time with us is what Oliver actually wants most as well. Our time in Milford left me feeling completely recharged on every level. It had been the perfect way to spend Oliver’s last few days of being a five year old. Starting our holiday on such a great note also meant we had high hopes for what the rest of our trip would bring.
My Wandering Kiwi Family 