te anau to milford sound

day 8 and i had all day to enjoy the drive from te anau to milford sound. last we time we made this trip we were in a bus so i was looking forward to being to take my time and stop when and where i want.

these docks are departure point for the water shuttle to the start of the milford track. the eglington valley is one of the first stops on the milford track road.

mirror lake

homer tunnel

kea’s hanging out at milford sound

milford sound

most visitors to milford sound are just there for a day cruise in the sound and are shuttled by bus from te anau. the facilities at milford are quite basic: a backpacker, a small motel, and a cafe/bar (cafe only open during the day, bar only at night). after the cruises are over for the day and the busses have left the sound population drops from 100’s to 10’s. the travelers staying at the backpacker are most on a tight budget so they cook their own meals. i haven’t planned very well so i head off to the bar and hope they have something to eat.

the blue duck was somewhere in between the brick (the bar/restaurant in the 90’s tv show “northern exposure”) and a grapes-of-wrath company store. looking around i see very few tourists – mostly boat maintenance workers in oil stained coveralls. lots of beer drinking all paid for with company credit. it seemed most called it a night when their credit was exhausted. the food was very good. i’m guessing the workers were not the cook-a-nice-dinner-back-in-my-room types and ate all their dinners at the bar – and to keep them happy in such an isolated place good food was important.

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