Key Summit - Routeburn Track Walk

Friday 13th Feb 2009

We left Milford Sound on a bright and sunny morning and took the Milford Road back to Te Anau.

Re-visiting the highlights of the road trip which we had made only yesterday but, with the clear blue sky and bright sunshine everything looked amazing - even more stunning than before. The glaciers and meadow flowers in particular were beautiful.

We stopped of at The Divide where the walk to Key Summit begins - a 3-hr return trek which follows the famous Routeburn Track.

Fiordland National Park is probably the best place in New Zealand for trampers (hikers). Its four major walking tracks, the Milford, Hollyford, Routeburn and Kepler can be walked independently or with a guided group.

We set off around 1030am and by midday we were at the summit - it was a fairly arduous climb, steep in places but the views at the top made it all worthwhile. All around there were views of the beech forests, the river and valley of Eglinton, snow-capped mountains, Lake Marian in the distance and glimpses of the Milford Road. Pretty alpine flowers edged the track and grey-green slate-like rock bordered the pathway.

Stunning, spectacular, unspoilt….our photos don’t do it justice but suffice to say we were overwhelmed by the sheer natural beauty of the whole panorama. Peaceful and perfect.

Milford Sound

We came into the small bay of Milford Sound and the sun made an appearance, making the water in the bay sparkle. It is a very pretty bay its most famous landmark being Mitre Peak, a pyramid-shaped mountain rising 1692 metres straight from the deep fiord.

We thought it was best to seize the moment and try and get on a boat trip as soon as possible, just in case the weather didn’t hold out, and , with minutes to spare, we got on the 3 o’clock sailing, the last of the day.

We stood at the front of the boat in the sun, and were treated to fantastic views of the fiord. We past Bowen falls a huge waterfall (160m drop) , believed to be one of the world’s highest to rise directly out of the sea. We then travelled up the Arthur river towards the Tasman sea, and the mouth of the fiord. There were a number of waterfalls, coming down from the towering mountains either side of us.

We past mount Kimberley, a 1310m mountain, with a waterfall flowing from the top, and then through a narrowing called Copper Point, named for the copper present in the rock. Wind funnels through the area with gusts frequently exceeding 1000 knots/hr.

At Dale point, we were at the most northern point of the entrance to Milford Sound. From the open sea, the entrance is almost impossible to sight and explains why Captain Cook and whalers didn’t notice the opening for so long.

We came out into the Tasman sea and turned around to come back into the fiord again. As we turned about we noticed a ‘face’ of a man sleeping, on the cliff face, keeping guard of the mouth of the fiord. There were a number of areas on the rocks which were smooth, where trees have lost their grip and caused an avalanche of trees. The rocks will take up to 70 years to regain the tree growth on their slopes.

We past a number of seals led on the rocks at the foot of the mountains, sunning themselves. This was by Harrison Cove, the fiord’s most sheltered natural anchorage. Snow-melt from mount Pembroke enters the fiord via the Harrison River here. Mount Pembroke is Milford Sounds highest mountain, standing at 2014m, and on top of which you can see the remnants of the glacier that carved the fiord.

The trip was about 1.5hrs just long enough to get a feel for this beautiful area, and seeing it from the boat showed it off to its best advantage.

We stayed in the Milford Sound Lodge, (www.milfordlodge.com), on the river side, with fantastic views of the mountains and river. Our room for the night was a log cabin with a huge picture window from floor to ceiling, so we watched the sun go down whilst eating our dinner.

The Milford Road

Thursday 12th Feb 2009

The 121km road to Milford Sound from Te Anau has earned World Heritage status for its beauty and scenic variety. This includes lush lakeside forest, rugged mountains, cascading alpine rivers and picturesque walks.

We left Te Anau mid-morning and although it was overcast at least it was a dry day for our road trip to the Milford Sound.

Our first stop along the State Highway 94 was at Mirror Lakes, a short 5-minute walk from the road across a boardwalk. On a calm day, beautiful reflections of the surrounding scenery are visible in the lakes but sadly, it was a tad breezy and as a result there were no reflections - the birdsong was lovely though and it made for a pleasant if brief stop en route.

The road then took us through a beautiful valley known as the Eglington Valley, the mountains rose high and mighty above us and pretty meadow flowers lined the route.

At Knobs Flat (honest!), we stopped for a rest break before continuing our onward journey. The surrounding scenery was impressive and dramatic - low cloud clung to the mountain peaks and the blue-green waters of Lake Gunn set amongst beech forest made for a very pretty distraction.

A short distance away, The Divide (the lowest East-West pass in the Southern Alps), marks the start of the Routeburn Track. We planned to complete the Key Summit walk which starts from this Track after our visit to Milford Sound.

Our journey continued through the very scenic Hollyford Valley and on to Monkey’s Creek where we had super views of the Upper Hollyford and Darren Mountains.

We stopped at several additional lookouts including Pop’s View and Kaka Creek for some photo opportunities, wonderful views of the mountains, river and waterfalls.

We arrived at Homer Tunnel (1200m long) and, as entry is controlled by traffic lights we had to wait for 10 minutes before continuing our journey - whilst we were waiting one of the cheeky Kea landed on our car and popped his head in through the open window!! They are well known for their curiosity and intelligence!!


On exiting the Homer Tunnel the road slopes very steeply downhill to the Milford side where there are spectacular views along the Cleddau Valley.

Our last stop off we made was at The Chasm - the Cleddau River plunges through a narrow chasm 22m deep at the Upper Fall - there were a series of unusual rock formations which have been made by the water and winds sculpting the rocks which looked almost skeletal-like.