Milford Sound & Doubtful Sound

As we now know, Milford and Doubtful Sounds are not true 'sounds' but 'fiords' because they were formed by glaciers. These are some of the 'must do' sights of New Zealand and we were keen to see one or the other. Advice from others suggested that Doubtful Sound is more remote, and therefore less touristy, but also 10 times the size of Milford Sound, so we decided that was the one to do. However, the Routeburn track finished only 30km from Milford Sound, so it seemed crazy not to see it. We managed to book into the only lodge in Milford Sound and got a morning cruise before the tour buses arrived.

It had been raining all night, but as we ate breakfast, there were tiny breaks in the cloud and we were hopeful.

Mitre Peak with the top still in cloud

In fact they proved ideal conditions as the rain and cloud cleared but the waterfalls were still full, so spectacular, and the sun gradually appeared.

Waterfall in spate following rain

Milford Sound has really steep sides and is awesome! Unfortunately the photos don't do it justice, and I don't have the vocabulary to describe it – all I can say is that I'm really glad we didn't miss it out.

Mitre Peak in sunshine

We drove down to Te Anau to camp for the next (and final) 2 nights, but the clouds reappeared. However, after a freezing night (yes, really), a perfect day dawned for our trip to Doubtful Sound. To get there involves a boat trip across Lake Manipouri, followed by a bus trip over the Wilmot Pass. Doubtful Sound is huge and all the hills rising out of the water are covered in bush. There are many hanging valleys and the place feels very remote.

View from the stern

We had a perfect day for it with clear blue skies – an unusual sight apparently as it rains for three days out of five.

The mountains round here are beautiful – it's a real shame that none of the Great Walks goes over them! Never mind, we are on wind-down now. We only really have the jet-boating to go.

A Note on Maori Carving

The Maori go in for elaborate carving on the door posts of their Mare (meeting houses) and similar carvings are to be found on things rather like totem-poles at many of the visitor centres. The first one of these we saw was in Titirangi in Auckland. Amongst other things the carvings depict naked warriors and are big, shall we say, on manhood, none more so than in Titirangi. Elsewhere they have been very much emasculated, probably because most of the visitors are in school parties.

In fact I have seen more stuck-up pricks in Auckland than anywhere else in New Zealand. I have shared this observation with a number of people we have met on our travels; without fail they have slapped me on the back and offered to buy me a drink.