The final part of my trip will cover most of the highlights from the (canceled) adventure tour I’d been planning to take. Since I’ve only got just over a week, I don’t have the luxury of taking my time in many places and with my rented car (an experience all by itself!). It stayed dark until much later than I’d expected so I stayed in bed (at the Tasman Holiday Park Te Anau) until 0635. When I looked outside, I saw that it was still pouring rain (as it had all night). As a result, I got wet going back and forth to the shared bathroom. While waiting (hopefully) for the weather to clear, I made calls to Mollie and Eileen and then did a little reading. After I'd gotten my car packed, I stopped in at the reception desk to verify that I'd correctly completed all tasks during my check-in last night. After confirming that I had, the lady clerk observed that "Te Anau gets rain for about 85% of the days of the year but other places nearby sometimes have nicer weather at the same time." With this local wisdom (and another comment, “when we get a lot of rain, the waterfalls are amazing”), she convinced me that it might be worth the effort to drive to Milford Sound. With the framework of a plan for my day, I next went looking for breakfast. Despite some restaurants being open, I ended up getting some (and lunch food) at Freshchoice. It continued to rain throughout this period... At 0905, I started driving north on Route 94 ("Milford Highway". I encountered almost no traffic in the northbound direction but did see several Jucy Camper Vans going the other way. Along the way, I made sight seeing stops at Henry Creek, Te Anau Downs, Eglinton Valley, a 45th Parallel South sign, Cascade Creek, The Divide and Pops View. Just after the last spot, I had to pass through a construction zone that featured a narrow, single lane bridge. Feeling a "bump" along the way, I thought I'd driven over an obstacle of some kind. After getting out of my car nearby, I figured out that I'd added a long scratch down the left (passenger) side front fender of my shiny Toyota Yaris (from Mode Rentals)! Ugh... There wasn't a soul around so I spent some time taking photos of the car and road and getting a narrative together. During this investigation, I figured out that the bridge had a subtle 30 degree turn in the middle which I hadn't noticed while driving. Mostly, this was because I was not use to the clearance on that side of the car but also because I've never seen such a bridge in my life. This whole incident obviously caused me concern about police reports, insurance and costs - while standing in the rain near the car, I began to wonder what I should do. Realizing that this situation could make or break the entire rest of my trip, I decided to "move on" and deal with the consequences later. For those who know me, this was something that was obviously harder than just thinking or saying I'd do it... Still, I didn't have a lot of choices and didn't want the whole vacation to come down to this one memory. So, I continued north towards Milford. To make the "dealing with reality" challenge even harder, the road after this point got even narrower and most of the white lane lines completely disappeared. This was mostly due to the precarious nature of the road itself - it was perched on the edge of steep cliffs. At times, I found places where only one vehicle could pass through and it made me glad that I didn't encounter a bus or truck nearby. Throughout this period, it wasn’t exactly clear who had the right of way... For more than 15 kilometers, the road was also very curvy and narrow, even when there were two lanes. Eventually, I crossed through the Homer Tunnel, a one lane cut through a huge mountain that made the Milford Highway possible. Coming down from there, the road required a bunch of switchbacks and there was really no place to pull over to take photos of the amazing number of waterfalls cascading off the snowy peaks above the valley. Even when I eventually had a chance, I decided not to stop because I was then in an area with several light-controlled construction zones. There were also several one lane bridges but none so bad as the earlier one. It still kept raining throughout the drive. I arrived at Milford just after 1100 and reached a dead end. I did find a big parking lot there but the weather looked so horrible (and parking cost a good bit of money) that it was hard to see much point in staying long. Also, I hadn't signed up for one of the famous boat tours and this meant that the only view I got of Milford Sound was a foggy, rainy image of distant terrain. Disappointed that the weather hadn’t improved all morning but also wanting to avoid the approaching hordes of visitors, I decided to start my backtrack immediately. On the way back towards Te Anau, I saw LOTS of tour buses and more Jucy vans headed north Fortunately, I didn’t have a lot of traffic on my side. I made photo stops at the Tutoko Suspension Bridge and during the delay for the Homer Tunnel. After I passed the "fateful" bridge from earlier in the morning, it occurred to me that I didn’t travel over 8,200 miles just to drive around in the rain! For this reason, I stopped at the parking lot for "The Divide", determined to get take a hike even if I got soaked to the bone. At 1220, I started walking into the woods on the Routeburn Track, one of New Zealand’s Great Walks. The trail was a continuous climb but wasn’t too steep. It was, however, very wet and rather cool (40s). I stayed warm under the poncho I was wearing. The higher I went, the closer I got to actual clouds. About two miles in, I had a choice of continuing on the Routeburn or taking a side trail to Key Summit. Even though the weather didn’t look promising, I chose the latter option. Even though I could occasionally see snow covered peaks all around me, I got no views. I did get more rain... Sadly, I never got a glimpse of Lake Marian, even though I was perched high above it at about 3000 feet. On the way down, I found that most of my footfalls were in water because the trail had flooded. At the junction with the Routeburn Track, I encountered several high school students from the town of Alexandra. One of their teachers told me they’d started two days before from a trailhead near Queenstown. She added that there were three other similar groups (of eight) from the same school who had parked their vans at The Divide and were hiking to the other trailhead, allowing for the the opposite-direction hiking groups to swap keys in the middle of their hike. I also learned that the hike was part of the school’s year long Outdoor Course, which was basically a supersized Phys Ed curriculum with practical training on wilderness survival. By this point, I was drenched and was incentivized to make great time to the car. Upon arriving (1435, after walking nearly six miles), I thought about changing in the nice building made for that purpose but, by then, it was full of kids. Instead, I drove back to Te Anau (on Route 94) and hoped the car’s heat might actually dry my clothes. It continued raining all the way back to town... After arriving in Te Anau, I explored a little and made my way over to the Fiordlands National Park Visitor Center (1550). A nice lady there fine-tuned my hiking plans for the Kepler Track and gave me some bird ID photos. It was still raining but I walked down to Lake Te Anau and took some photos. Back at Tasman Holiday Park by 1615, I dried myself and tried to dry my clothes - I’ll be really lucky if they are ready in the morning... My neighbors reported that they'd just returned from a bus tour they had taken to Milford Sound and said they’d seen beautiful waterfalls with rainbows. Oh well... I read until it was dinner time (1755) and then drove into the center of town. Just after parking at a restaurant, I realized I’d forgotten my wallet and had to go back to retrieve it. Eventually, I sat down at La Toscana and ate a delicious dinner (spaghetti bolognese, tiramisu, Fiordland Lager). Finished at 1905, I walked across the street to Freshchoice to get some toiletries and OJ. On the way back to my car, I did some more exploring in the center of town. After that, I drove back to Tasman Holiday Park to check on drying clothes and plan for my next day. I did some reading and went to bed at 2200. Even though the day was wet, I’m pleased that I got a real hike and summit climb!
