Jan 31: Milford and Marian

aliceesor

Jan 31, 2024: DOC Cascade Campsite on Milford Rd -> Te Anau

Today was another full day.

We were up at the crack of doom, and on the road to get to Milford Sound for 7am kayaking.

We had signed up to kayak before the wind kicked up (day breeze predictably makes for windy conditions every afternoon). The access road is no joke.

There is a massive wall of granite (Darran Range) between the valley where our campsite is and the head of Milford Fjord*. (How would you cross this??)
Through this wall goes the Homer Tunnel at 945m above sea level. (Points if you can spot the opening in the photo above!)
It took 19 years to build and was opened in 1954.

We ascended to the wall, then descended steeply through the 1.2km tunnel, and continued down many switchbacks to sea level.

We arrived early for our kayaking excursion as the alternating one-lane lights sending batches through the tunnel were in our favour. The thing about being early is waiting, and although waiting is usually fine, waiting in Milford means dealing with “sandflies”. These are actually black flies and were added to the region by Hine-nui-te-pō, Maori goddess of the underworld, “to remind humans of their frailty and mortality”.

We paddled doubles. I knew this in advance, so wasn’t sad, but still made me miss my kayak!

We visited the famous Mitre peak (shown with mum and moon)
… and the nearby Lion, and Elephant (those are the mountains in the background, not the kayakers, just to be clear!)
Not all the kayakers in our group were as keen as us – mum and I were the speediest by an alarming margin.
Despite this, we enjoyed watching fur seals (that curving lump in the middle is a seal, I swear!) playing and eating…
… and a cruise ship practicing pirouettes.

My snazzy water filter got some more love as I talked M and F into hiking up to Marian Lake. This was the lesser of my two shortlisted hikes, and I’m glad we hadn’t embarked on the longer, steeper option.

As it was, the trail up to Marian Lake was tougher and more technical than anticipated (possibly something to do with being up since 5 and already kayaking for 3 hours beforehand).

But, it was worth it for the spectacular views and awesome swim that awaited us at the top. Despite being a glacier-fed lake, we were not the only swimmers thanks to swimming (or at least committed wading) being required to see the views.

There was no clear area at the lakeshore, and no beach space from which to enjoy the view.
The only flat spot in which to have our elaborate (hot soup!) picnic was… not a very classy one.

We have had spectacular luck/timing with weather so far.

It started rain once we were in the car to Te Anau.

Alice

*Fjord vs Sound. A sound is a drowned river valley (i.e. the sea fills in a valley that was previously eroded by a river). A fjord is a drowned glacier valley, which is the case for Milford, Doubtful, Dusky and many other “sounds” down here – all technically fjords.

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