Day 31 - Earthquake and the Third Time Milford Sound

14.01.2015

An earthquake wakes me up shortly after midnight as my bed shakes quite a bit and I am shaken quite a bit. I wait and am lucky that it's over after maybe half a minute and nothing else seems to happen and nothing else shakes. Still a very strange feeling.

When I get up at 7:00, I check online to see if it really was an earthquake or not. It was one and it was a magnitude 5.5 and the epicenter was 70km west of Te Anau somewhere in the fjords. There is a website that records practically every significant movement of the earth in NZ and is divided into earthquake magnitudes. What bothered Christchurch on 5 or 6.1.15 had a strength of 6 and was considered severe, mine here was considered moderate and that was enough for me.

At just after 8, I go to the gas station to fill up. After being able to tank for 1.75 yesterday, it costs 1.85 here at this lost end. Oil prices are currently falling worldwide. But I have also filled up for 2.06 on the North Island. At the end of the main street, just before the lake, I get myself a sandwich and a coffee, sit outside and look at the sky. On the one hand, it's only 13 degrees, on the other hand, there are thick clouds above me. I take my time, because in clouds, but also with rain, I already know the way to Milford Sound.

At 9 o'clock, I set off and the view is really better. This kilometer-long valley, which lies between the mountain slopes on the left and right, is covered in tussock grass, which seems reddish-yellow. I stop here and there to look at a gorge from above or to see a waterfall.

Then I reach The Chasm, a rapid of a river that has eaten its way through the rock here over thousands of years and has left incredible formations of stone. I was just alone - now there is a loud group of Asians behind me again, storming the small bridge over the gorge, which starts to sway and makes it impossible to take any stable photos.

The Chasm

I continue driving and reach the Homer Tunnel around 11 o'clock. Unfortunately, there are no Keas here today. Just a year ago, hardly had I stopped when I was surrounded by a group of Keas trying to gnaw on every piece of plastic or rubber on my car, until they tried it on the other cars. The view back into the mountains is all the more beautiful today, because although it is not clear yet and still only 14 degrees, the sun is trying to come through and the view is - no matter in which direction - gigantic.

Entrance into the Homer Tunnel

Through the tunnel downhill

In front of the tunnel

The tunnel operates every 7 minutes each way and is 1.2 km long. Roughly carved into the rocks, barely illuminated, and dripping from above, the drive is a bit creepy and I wonder what happens here if something happens. There are no side corridors or shelters. On the other side, the weather is a bit worse, but there are 3 Keas waiting for cars with rubber parts. My antenna is a victim and one of the three Keas is sitting angrily on my car, pecking happily on the paint of the roof because he can't nibble anything in between the front and rear doors from above with his pointed beak...I try to scare him away, whereupon he lets out a piercing cry and his two buddies, who are squatting on the ground, answer immediately. Something like: Leave our friend alone, otherwise we will join in too!

At some point, I have a few photos in the bag and have observed the animals extensively, and I drive the last 24km to Milford Sound. The first part of this final stretch is initially in serpentines quite far down, because the tunnel was 1,200m high and I have to get to water level. I am in Milford Sound at half past 12, find more or less the last parking space and get myself a coffee and sit in the sun, which occasionally comes through the clouds. Then I take a short walk, wanted to take a break with a view of the end of the fjord and Mitre Peak, but there is such a cold wind blowing that I freeze despite my wool jacket and continue walking along the path to get my fleece jacket from the car in the end and then sit by the water again and simply absorb the scenery. Through a somewhat sand fly infested forest, you reach the boat's departure point. This is where Milford Sound receives extremely heavy rainfall (about 6-7 METERS per year!) and so the little bloodsuckers feel very comfortable, also because so many tourists come here to donate blood...

At 2:45 pm, I booked a Milford Sound Cruise for 70 dollars. Consiously on a smaller ship and in the end it's not even full yet. The weather is nice at first, but then becomes more and more overcast. We see several waterfalls, one of them so close that a gust of wind wets me and I'm glad that my fleece jacket keeps some of the water off and my backpack is waterproof.

A few fur seals are lazily lying on a rock and actually the landscape with the mountains, waterfalls and the wild growth of trees and bushes up to almost 1,700m altitude is the highlight.

At 4:45 pm, we head back to land, I take my car and drive back to Te Anau at a leisurely pace. That's 120 km and with a few stops at viewpoints and the visual enjoyment of the mild evening light over the valley and mountains and at the end of Lake Te Anau, this day ends very beautifully.

Mitre Peak

Return trip

Lake Te Anau

In Te Anau I go to The Ranch, a rustic restaurant where I get the best fish of my trip. Finally not breaded, with super al dente cooked fresh vegetables and no fries. I treat myself to a Speight's and type the diary until shortly after 9 p.m. in the pub. It's still light outside. Here in the south, sunset is at least half an hour later than in Auckland.

Back in the room, I try to drink a glass of red wine while saving today's photos - which are unbeatably many, which I also sort out forever. If they don't look good on the tablet, they probably won't on the computer either. In doing so, I step on the wine glass and it spills onto the thick carpet at my feet. I quickly follow it up with the precious mineral water and finally my large bath towel comes into use, which is supposed to stay here anyway and has been without a job for five weeks. So it is finally completely ruined, and the surely 12-year-old carpet has one more stain, but it probably won't be so visible by tomorrow.

Daily distance: 214km