Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Hollyford Valley and Milford Sound

Heading north from Te Anau direction Milford Sound and after The Divide a turn into Hollyford Valley and to Gunns Camp, which began 1938 as a Public Works Department camp built for the men working on the Hollyford-Okuru Road. No phone, no Internet, hot water for showers heated by wood fire (that is 2015 not 1938 I am talking about).
Next day Hollyford Track to Hidden Falls and Humboldt Falls, all very impressive but quite a bit of rain.
Another day the road up to Homer Tunnel (900m) and down to Milford Sound. I got a boat in the morning (most bus organizations head for the 1pm sailings, and there are quite a few of them). A special treat was the underwater observatory, because of high amount of fresh water floating on top with an high content of eroded material which is dense for the light, there are coralls and fauna that you can usually only observe in deep sea.
Busy road on the way back, because all cars/coaches/campervans leave in the afternoon.
Sunshine next day as well, Pass Creek, Howden Hut, Earland Falls and a bit further to get a good view of Hollyford Valley (that is part of the Routeburn Track), Key Summit with views of Lake Marian and back to my camp, about 9hours on my feet...
Time to say good bye and return to Te Anau (after 4 days there was not to much of the food that I brought with me left) and a special show tonight in the cinema of Te Anau, where they usually show Shadowland, a documentary about Fjordland: but tonight -- Star Wars - Te Force Awakens...