Milford Sound on the Bike

Accompanying me on this trip were Stephen and Gavin.

For me these trips are more satisfying if there is a specific target rather than just an aimless ride, so the objective was to ride to Milford Sound in the Fiordland National Park.

I took the ferry over to Picton and from there rode down to Nelson where I stayed a couple of nights. I then met up with Stephen and Gavin and we set off down the island’s West coast staying the night in the town of Westport.

The bikes.

Camping in Westport.

The weather so far had been hot and sunny but it all turned to custard that evening when the rain arrived, though at least not until after I pitched my tent. It rained heavily all night and I had the grim task of packing up my tent in the pouring rain.

We rode all day in the rain, which made for some demanding riding on the regions tight and twisty roads. In a perverse way the riding was actually rather enjoyable and all part of the highs and lows of touring. 

We stopped off on the way at Punakaiki to view some weird rock formations before arriving in Franz Josef where we stayed the night. Miraculously the rain stopped just as we arrived and I was able to put up the tent in relative comfort and start the process of drying everything out. The reason for stopping here was to take a look at the Franz Josef Glacier that flows from New Zealand highest mountain, Mt Cook. It was about a 40 minutes walk to reach the terminal face of the glacier, but well worth the effort. I first visited here 11 years ago and it was sobering to see how far the glacier had receded in that time.

Punakaiki.

The Franz Josef Glacier.

Come the next day the rain was back with a vengeance. We rode down to Haast where we had lunch and a chance to retreat from the driving rain. The road from here heads inland up and over the Southern Alps via the Haast pass. The scenery and riding was spectacular not least as the rain finally stopped as we passed over the range. We eventually arrived in a hot and sunny Queenstown.

Queenstown is a big, brash and in your face international resort and consequently disliked by many Kiwis. Personally I love the place. Gavin and I did a couple of rides on our own in this area at a rather more “spirited” pace than we had so far. We rode to Glenorchy, which boasts some great views of Mt Aspiring. The other trip was between Wanaka and Queenstown via the Crown Range. This is  New Zealand’s highest road and to my mind is about as good as it gets in biking terms with seeming endless fast sweeping bends.

 At the top of the Crown Range.

 Looking over towards Glenorchy with Mt Aspiring in the background.

Lake Wakatipu.

From Queenstown we headed off on the relatively short leg to Te Anau, where we stayed for a couple of nights.

The next day was the real big one, and I guess the climax of the trip, where we headed off to Milford Sound. The road to the Sound is about 140km long and passes back over the Southern Alps before dropping down steeply to the coast. We set of very early to avoid the dreaded camper vans and to give us a chance to beat the heavy rain forecast for later in the day. As we ascended the mountains it became cool and misty but mercifully dry. We eventually arrived at the Homer tunnel. The tunnel is long, steep and roughly hewn and quite an experience on a motorbike. From here the road dropped down very steeply and after another 15 minutes or so we finally arrived in Milford Sound.

This isn't our footage (thanks for the link Stephen) but the clip below shows the last part of the trip, starting at the Homer Tunnel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roBWem8NdwU

The main thing to do in the Sound is a boat cruise, so this is what we did. The weather on the outward leg of the boat trip was dry but rather cloudy and misty which I reckon actually gives the mountains more of an air of mystery. We also saw a penguin and a seal eating a fish, which according to the skipper of the boat was actually rather unusual. I am no expert so will take his word for it.

Milford Sound.

A bit further down the Sounds with one of its permanent waterfalls in the distance.

On the return leg of the cruise the rain returned and quickly became heavy. To some extent this was actually rather lucky as we got to see a great many waterfalls, which sprung up almost instantly from the steep hillsides. The downside was yet another soggy day on the bikes.

As tends to be the way, the rest of the journey was very nice but also a bit of an anticlimax as we needed to head North and cover a lot of ground to make it to the ferry in Picton. On the way back we stayed in Geraldine and Kaikoura. The highlights of these last few days motorbiking wise were the nice and twisty Lindis Pass and the much straighter but very cruisy Inland Scenic Route.