Miles Hiked: ~3
Time Hiking: 1.5hr

I think it’s clear from the little map above, I did a ton of driving today! I had no idea how far Milford Sound was from Te Anau (little planning oversight there), but my goodness, was it worth it.

Mountains above Queenstown (c) ABR 2017

First of all, the drive from Wanaka to Queenstown was a stunning continuation of the mountains that I was exploring in Mt. Aspiring (same colors and character). It was so beautiful with the sunrise, it was honestly a little disappointing to have to be driving. I wanted to stop and take pictures, but it just wasn’t much of a possibility (although I did pull over to snap the one above). My hitch hiker pals told me that Queenstown is a great place to visit, but sadly, I didn’t have time to stop. It did look like a town with a lot to offer though… how could it not with a mountainous backdrop like that!?

(c) ABR 2017

Anyway, Milford Sound is one of those NZ designations that everyone raves about, which, oddly, made me doubt that it could really be that great, ESPECIALLY after what I had already seen in Mt. Cook and Mt. Aspiring. But by all that is good… Fiordlands (the NP that is home to Milford Sound) is one of the most amazing places that I have ever seen. The mountains on the drive in, especially those surrounding the tunnel, are just unlike anything I’ve experienced before. You have forests and grasslands at their base, and then these mountains are just masses of rock. They are so steep that barely anything grows on them, but for mossy-looking plants that just make the whole place seem other-worldly. I honestly can’t rave about that place enough.

The famous Milford Sound (c) ABR 2017

As for Milford Sound itself, I really wanted to hike, so I missed out on the boat ride. It was really crowded down there anyway, and I just wasn’t feeling it with all the buses swarming everywhere. I am sure that those of you who have done it before would say that that was a mistake, but I wouldn’t have wanted to unwittingly miss out out on the hike I ended up doing.

Gertrude Valley. Doesn’t sound like much. Actually, I have no idea why I decided to turn down the short little dirt road that opened in to the parking lot for the trail, but it was an unbelievable experience. First off, note that this is a dangerous trail during avalanche season (which it is not currently), and that I didn’t do the steep part of the trail due to lack of preparation in terms of gear and time constraints. But the trail there took me through some fairy tale forests, and through vast grasslands between the mountains that I loved so much, right to the base of a peak that looked like the mountain above Fairy Pools in Scotland… but if it was on steroids.

If nothing else, this one day made this trip for me. I didn’t know that something this cool existed. I could spend weeks here hiking around.

The day before this I was in Mt. Aspiring, loving the red hills of the Southern Alps.
After hiking in Fiordlands, I was off to Stewart Island in the South.