Drive to Milford Sound

We woke up early to start our presumed 4 hour drive to Milford Sound, however, as we were driving out of Te Anau, a road sign stated 2 hours to Milford. Apparently neither of us can read distances on maps. Don't know how we figured out it took 4 hours, but we actually needed the extra time for all the picture stops we made along the way. It's a spectacular drive through farmlands that eventually give way to flats and meadows filled with flowers. There are patches of forests where we stopped to see Mirror Lakes and Lake Gunn (called O Tapara by ancient Maori who stopped here on their way to find greenstone). This scenery changed drastically by the time we reached the Divide which is the lowest east-west pass in the Southern Alps. Huge cliffs rise up on all sides with the occasional waterfall trickling down. We drove through the Homer Tunnel and emerged into the Cleddau Canyon on the other side. A 10 minute walk through the forest brought us to The Chasm, which is several boulders that have been eroded into a deep chasm causing cascading waterfalls and rock formations.

Despite needing all the extra time for sightseeing, we still managed to get to Milford Sound a good three hours before we were scheduled to depart on our overnight cruise. We ate an overpriced lunch at the Milford Cafe, and then decided a good nap is what we needed. We ended up sleeping for an hour in the car and were the last ones to board the boat!