d. Te Anau & Milford Sound (10 – 11/09/08)

As soon as we arrived at Te Anau, we headed straight to the office of the Department of Conservation (DOC) to enquire about the Milford Track which we had earlier planned to hike the next day. We were quite taken aback when the officer in the DOC office told us that the track was still quite inhospitable as certain sections were blanketed in thick snow. Also avalanches were a frequent activity – over 40 avalanche paths along the track. Unless we were experienced alpine hikers and had necessary gears and equipments like ice axe, crampons, ropes and radio or Personal Locator Beacon it would be rather dangerous to attempt this track at this time of the year.

As an alternative, the officer told us that it would safe to do part of the Kepler Track, staying only a night in Luxmore Hut. Though disappointed, we had no hesitation in accepting the advice. At least we had the opportunity to put in practice what we had trained at Mt Kiara for more than half a dozen times carrying a heavy back-pack weighing more than 10 kg. 

Abort hiking the Milford Track and do only the Kepler Track to Luxmore Hut, the boys would have extra two days to be together with the girls. We decided to cruise the Milford Sound together the next day (11/09/08) and the boys would start the Kepler Track on the 12/09/08 and return to Te Anau to be with the girls again on the 13/09/08. The girls would go for tour near Te Anau and stay alone in the motel only on 12/09/08.

Milford Sound Cruise Cruise

Milford Sound is a fiord located within Fiordland National Park and is the Te Wahiponnamu (Maori for “the place of greenstone) World Heritage Site. Rudyard Kipling, an English author and poet referred to it as “The 8th Wonder of the World”

We took a boat cruise from Milford Wharf and traveled about 16km length of the Milford Sound to the Tasman Sea and back. The cruise took more than two hours.

The fiord is surrounded by sheer rock faces that rise over a 1000m on either side. Mitre Peak, a pinnacle of rock that forms the world’s highest sea cliff, dominates the skyline at nearly 1,700m high. Lush rain forests cling precariously to the cliffs. Stirling and Bowen Falls are sights of splendor to behold

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