Milford Track

Nyz Zeeland
4 days in January, 2011

A trek in the famous Fiordland National Park. The nature is very nice, and the third day of the trek is really amazing. A nice bonus is the beautiful boat rides at the start and finish of the trek, with good views of the fiords.


Day 1

Nice boat ride from Te Anau to the trail head.

 
 
 
 

An incredibly green and clear river, surrounded
by rainforest and nearly vertical mountains.
 
 

A very fat eel
 
 

That's a huge beech!
 

Day 2

Continuing through the valley, with nice rainforest.
Quite similar as day 1, until the very end of the day
when the vegetation changes. 

 
 
 

Day 3

By far the nicest day of the hike.
Crossing the McKinnon Pass with great views,
then passing the impressive Sutherland falls waterfall.

  

 
 
 

 
 
 

On the McKinnon pass.
Too much mist for any views. We waited a while in the shelter on the pass, but then decided to descend, hoping that it would clear up.
 
 

Suddenly the mist cleared
 
 

The views were fantastic
 
 

Mist filling up the other valley, and flowing over the McKinnon pass.
No wonder we had no views on the pass...
 
 

Deep narrow valleys and fantastic vegetation
 
 

 
 
 

Kea parrot - the only alpine parrot in the world.
They say this is one of the smartest animals in the world, with an intelligence comparable to dolphins.
 
 

There were plenty of Keas below the pass,
and some of them came pretty close to us.
 
 

Kea

 
 

Many small waterfalls on the vertical walls
 
 

The vegetation was really amazing
 
 

Nice rainforest at lower altitude in the valleys
 
 

Sutherland falls.
This waterfall is 580 meters high, in three stages
(only the two upper stages are visible on this photo)
 
 

Sutherland falls from below.
 
 

A nice, clod swim in the clear water
 
 

 
 
 

Bell rock.
A hole had been naturally carved into this rock, and then, somehow, the rock had been fliped over. So if you walked in under it you could stand up in there.
 
 

Inside Bell rock.
 
 

 
 

 Day 4

Just walking on a wide path through the rainforest, similar to day 1 and 2. But finishinh at a beautiful spot on the Milford Sound fiord. From there a boat took us to the village Milford Sound, and from the boat we had very nice views of the fiord. 

A Weka bird on the path
 
 

The Weka bird is a endemic NZ bird that can't fly.
 
 

The end of the trail, at Milford Sound.
 
 

View from the boat ride.
The high peak to the left is Mitre peak, about 1700 meters high.
 
 

View from the boat ride