Milford Sound - New Zealand
8/15/05
Te Anau is a small town in the middle of the Sounds, in the south are the Doudtful Sounds and in the north are the Milford Sounds. Te Anau lies on a lake and at the foot of the mountain range. It is also the start of one of the New Zealand 9 Great Walks, the Kepler trail is the one we wanted to do. In winter time it is usually closed due to snowy and icy conditions.
We went to the visitor center to get more information and they told us that part of the trek is feasible even in winter, at least up to the bush limit where from we could already have a nice view. We also were informed that the Milford Sound Road was closed due to avalanches and we would not be able to drive on it, so we went for the hike.
The trail begins at one end of the lake and follows along its boarder but through the forest. It is very humid and most of the ground is covered with moss.
Click here for a panoramic of the start of the trail
After a while we left the trail and walked along the lake which has a stony shore. When we got closer to the mountain we went back to the trail and started climbing up the mount.
Stupid picture ...
While we were going up the forest the vegetation was changing and the path too. It was getting muddier and close to the bush limit, there was some snow. When we reached the bush limit it changed drastically.
The snow was really high and there was very windy bringing the temperature down. We passed in one second from a forest to no vegetation at all. We kept climbing a little with snow up to our knees and enjoyed and amazing view.
We were very close to the Luxmore hut, which is usually the first stop of the 3-day hike. The view was breathtaking with on one side the lake, the other the fjords and behind us snow-capped mounts, it only lacked a blue sky.
From there we went back to the starting point. The roundtrip took us 7 hours of a rewarding walk. It must be great to do the whole walk! Maybe one day… We went back to the visitor center for updates about the road to Milford Sound and we had good news. The woman told us that they were clearing it and that it should be reopened the next morning.
8/16/05
The road was open, so we drove to the famous Milford Sound, one of the world's most impressive alpine scenery. The Fiordland National Park is a World Heritage Area and New Zealand's largest area of natural wilderness. The park covers an area with glaciated mountains, fjord-indented coastline, lakes, rivers, and forests. The only problem was that it was really foggy and we could not see it at its best. It was also raining, which made hundreds of waterfalls appear all long the way. That was really beautiful!
At the end of the day we drove to Queenstown and rented the snowboard and ski to slide down the Coronet Peak the following day.
Te Anau is a small town in the middle of the Sounds, in the south are the Doudtful Sounds and in the north are the Milford Sounds. Te Anau lies on a lake and at the foot of the mountain range. It is also the start of one of the New Zealand 9 Great Walks, the Kepler trail is the one we wanted to do. In winter time it is usually closed due to snowy and icy conditions.
We went to the visitor center to get more information and they told us that part of the trek is feasible even in winter, at least up to the bush limit where from we could already have a nice view. We also were informed that the Milford Sound Road was closed due to avalanches and we would not be able to drive on it, so we went for the hike.
The trail begins at one end of the lake and follows along its boarder but through the forest. It is very humid and most of the ground is covered with moss.
Click here for a panoramic of the start of the trail
After a while we left the trail and walked along the lake which has a stony shore. When we got closer to the mountain we went back to the trail and started climbing up the mount.
Stupid picture ...
While we were going up the forest the vegetation was changing and the path too. It was getting muddier and close to the bush limit, there was some snow. When we reached the bush limit it changed drastically.
The snow was really high and there was very windy bringing the temperature down. We passed in one second from a forest to no vegetation at all. We kept climbing a little with snow up to our knees and enjoyed and amazing view.
We were very close to the Luxmore hut, which is usually the first stop of the 3-day hike. The view was breathtaking with on one side the lake, the other the fjords and behind us snow-capped mounts, it only lacked a blue sky.
From there we went back to the starting point. The roundtrip took us 7 hours of a rewarding walk. It must be great to do the whole walk! Maybe one day… We went back to the visitor center for updates about the road to Milford Sound and we had good news. The woman told us that they were clearing it and that it should be reopened the next morning.
8/16/05
The road was open, so we drove to the famous Milford Sound, one of the world's most impressive alpine scenery. The Fiordland National Park is a World Heritage Area and New Zealand's largest area of natural wilderness. The park covers an area with glaciated mountains, fjord-indented coastline, lakes, rivers, and forests. The only problem was that it was really foggy and we could not see it at its best. It was also raining, which made hundreds of waterfalls appear all long the way. That was really beautiful!
At the end of the day we drove to Queenstown and rented the snowboard and ski to slide down the Coronet Peak the following day.
posted by Adriano and Angie | 3:05 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home