NZ Day 8 - Milford Sound Road

Sunday, 18 December 2022

The only other time we've driven along the Milford Sound road we were in a bit of a hurry and it was pretty wet, so we couldn't do any of the little side trips that were on offer.   As we had another 'rest' day today it was the perfect opportunity to take a leisurely drive towards Milford Sound and do all the things we missed last time.

Once again the low cloud made for dreary photos, so our 2nd stop, the Mirror Lakes, weren't really mirroring..

We progressed to the 45 minute Gunns Lake Nature Trail which was really nice:  

We got a bit off-track and found one of the glacier-green streams that reminded us of or Milford Track hike: 

But it meant we had a little bit of a road walk to get back to the car park:

Then we headed to Lake Marion Falls - just before the Homer Tunnel:

We hadn't planned to go through the tunnel and all the way to Milford Sound (as we'd visited Doubtful Sound the day before), but because the skies seemed to be clearing we thought it might be worthwhile. And.. wow..

With patchy blue skies the views were amazing. Unlike Doubtful Sound it was very busy and noisy with planes and helicopters taking off every few minutes as well as cruises leaving and coming in all the time.   Can't blame anyone for wanting to get out into the Sound when it's not actually raining though.

although maybe Jett was more concerned with getting wifi?

Anyway - it was a relaxed and lovely day out. 

Tonight we have to repack and prepare for the Routeburn track tomorrow.