Going up Northwest into Fiordland the scenery quickly changes and we are in the mountains again. After Te Anau the road to Milford Sound is arguably the most scenic drive in New Zealand. 120 km of splendid scenery, mountains and ice fields. A 1.2km long one-way tunnel which took almost 20 years to build (construction started in 1935 with five men using picks and wheelbarrows). And after some rain hundreds of small waterfalls. Some impressions from the roadside:

nat-NZ-fiordland-road_to_milford_sound-2

nat-NZ-fiordland-road_to_milford_sound-4

Our only stop on the way in is The Divide, start (or end) of the multi-day Routeburn Track and 1.5 hours up the track brings you to the key summit with fabulous views:

nat-NZ-fiordland-routeburn_key_summit-1

Then it was already time to hurry to Milford Sound and catch our overnight cruise. A first look at a waterfall from the shore:

nat-NZ-fiordland-milford_sound-2

And some impressions from the ship:

nat-NZ-fiordland-milford_sound-5

nat-NZ-fiordland-milford_sound-6

As the Tasman sea was very calm that night we could come out a long way and see the whole coastline of Fiordland from a distance. Here the entrance to Milford Sound...no wonder it was initially overlooked by James Cook and other European explorers.

nat-NZ-fiordland-from_tasman_sea

The next day it was raining. Which is no big surprise as it rains more than half of the days in Milford Sound. This leads to more and bigger waterfalls and a different atmosphere:

nat-NZ-fiordland-milford_sound-10

nat-NZ-fiordland-milford_sound-9

We could also see some Fiordland crested penguins from afar:

nat-NZ-fiordland-milford_sound-fiordland_crested_penguins

There are many points of interest on the road to Milford Sound to on the way we stopped at a few more. The Marian Creek gantry:

nat-NZ-fiordland-marian_Creek_gantry-2

A nice bushwalk which features a unique walk wire:

tom-NZ-fiordland-walk_wire