Hollyford Valley- Fiordland National Park

Catch-up (Late September 2019)

The DOC campground at Cascade Creek is a great place to base yourself if you're wanting to spend a few days exploring the Milford Road & Fiordland National Park. It's also the last DOC campground before Milford Sound, 44kms away.

This is our third trip down the Milford Road and while we've pretty much explored every nook & crannie it's always good to check places out again; in different weathers & seasons. We stopped at the Hollyford Valley lookout (Pop's View) which is just past the Divide, the Key Summit Walk and the the trail end of the Routeburn Track.

One very hopeful Kea was strutting his stuff up and down the railings and along the log below the 'Do Not Feed the Kea' sign. Failing to win anyone over he flew to the roof of a nearby vehicle before checking out the windscreen's rubber surround for taste. As we left he was being chased off one vehicle only to land on another as it arrived. Eventually, I'm sure, he would have found some one to feed him.

We headed off down the Hollyford Valley (which is now heavily damaged after the recent rain storm), passing over many of the alpine streams that tumble down from the Seppentine Range & Humboldt Mountains above into the Hollyford River below. David spies a stream out his window that he thinks will make a great photo opportunity. 

And what a stunning scene it is; thick green mosses cover the rocks, luxuriant ferns fill the spaces along the edge of cascading stream and the surrounding trees are dripping with emerald green mosses. Dappled sunlight reaches into the back depths of this magical scene; this is what a rain forest looks like. I stay for quite some time taking way too many photos, I just can't get enough of the beautiful scenery.

And then just a kilometre further along the road this is what nature can do to those beautiful sights. A stream flows down through the middle of a large tree and rock slide that blocked the Hollyford Road for several weeks back in September 2013.

We first visited the Hollyford Valley in 2014, just a few months after the landslide, when the road was still a dusty track through the slide and many large mature trees were caught up in the mud & rocks, their leafy canopy turning brown and dying amongst the rocks and mud. The trees are still standing but are now covered in moss and lichen as they slowly rot away.

There are photos of that previous visit in this blog link.  The area is still rocky and barren but colourful lichen covers many of the rocks and logs and a few shrubs, ferns and grasses are now growing in amongst the fallen debris.

Sadly due to the recent Fiordland storm, Gunns Camp had a large mudslide wash through it, along with severe flooding from the river. The camp is now closed until further notice. Hopefully the owners will be able to restore their quirky campground although from the aerial shots I've seen there is a lot of damage.

I wonder if this is (was) the only hand wound petrol pump in New Zealand. I was surprised at how few winds it took to pump in this guy's gas. 

Here's a link to a photo of the flooding at Gunns Camp, where guests were evacuated by helicopter after a night from hell. This link is a video of the camp as they were leaving in the helicopter.

In the meantime, oblivious to the destruction nature would wrought in a few months time, we carry on up the Hollyford Road. 

I know several of the swingbridges over the Hollyford River were washed away and all of the tramping tracks are closed due to rock slides, washouts and missing bridges. This one is on the Moraine Creek Route.

While I'm taking photos of the river from the bridge I spot a tiny yellow flash zipping out, dipping and diving over the rushing water and back again to a large rock. It's a male Tomtit/Miromiro collecting insects.

Towards the end of the Hollyford Road I know there's an old grave with a sad story, it's right on the edge of the river, above a stony bank and along a short track. This time the sign post at the roadside is missing.

I locate it by spotting a scrape in the undergrowth where cars have parked in the past (and one of the short posts where the sign should have been is still there) but unless you knew about it, you'd not find it. Which is a shame, I'd like to hope that Donald Keith doesn't ever get forgotten about. Now I wonder how his lonely grave fared in the flooded river.

At the end of the road we sit on the tray of the ute and hurriedly eat our lunch because the sandflies are out in force today. We're overlooking the confluence of the  Humboldt Creek & Hollyford River and another swing bridge which is at the beginning of the Hollyford Track, a 4-8 day tramp to the ocean.

Afterwards we walked the short steep track up to the Humboldt Falls lookout (both the Hollyford Track & this one are closed at the moment due to storm damage). The three tier Humboldt Falls, while spectacularly high are a little underwhelming when seen from way across the otherside of the valley.

I zoom in to the top of each tier and find this more fascinating.

The top tier

I wonder how deep the  pools are behind the overflow and if anyone has ever abseiled down to them for a dip.

The Bottom Tier

Two days later, and after the light dusting of snow at Cascade Creek, I headed off on my own mini tiki-tour checking for photo opportunities and to see where the snow has fallen. My first stop was at the top of Lake Gunn. 

I'm the only one around except for pair of Paradise Ducks who I surprise while they're moseying about in the nearby shallows. They honk their disapproval at being disturbed and head off out into the lake breaking up my reflections as payback.

Our camp is at the far end of the lake, there used to be a lovely little DOC camp here at the top end but it got overrun with campers which left no room for day trippers so it was closed down. 

Snow has fallen at road level as I pass through the Divide which is below Key Summit and the end of the Routeburn Track.

I stop again at Pop's Lookout, high above the Hollyford Valley.

There's no Kea to greet me today, just another Tomtit fluff-ball flitting about.

Across from the lookout are the Darran Mountains and the Lake Marian valley, a tough tramping track heads up the hanging valley past the Marian Cascade and Falls to a beautiful alpine lake. We walked the track on one of our previous visits. This whole area is now closed due to the storm damage.

I carried on down the road and came across a few hopeful tourists waiting at Marian Corner; the  junction of the Milford & Hollyford Roads. The road through to Milford is closed due to the avalanche risk and they're waiting to see if it will open.

I have a chat with the coffee-cart guy, telling him he has a captive market but he tells me he's waiting too and can't sell to anyone. His permit only allows for him to sell coffee at Monkey Creek which is further on down the Milford Road. I think he must be very keen, the nearest civilization is back at Te Anau about 80kms away.

I'm don't hold out much hope that the road will open for them, it's cold, very misty and the cloud is dropping even lower, it feels like it might even snow some more. 

I head off down the Hollyford Road stopping just a couple of kilometres further on at the Marian Cascade carpark. I cross over the swingbridge taking a photo looking up the Hollyford River from the middle of the bridge. This swingbridge was washed away in the recent floods, just as the helicopter evacuated more tourists stranded in the carpark.

I walked to the top of the Marian Cascade to take some photos and have the track to myself. Most of those waiting for the road to open would have no idea there this stunning little gem is just down the road. 

I now wonder how the boardwalk up the side of the Cascade survived in the flood; the water would have been raging down here to the river below.

On the way back down the path I stopped to take some slow-mo photos of some little water trickles flowing out of a moss and fern covered bank.

And then it's one more photo of the river as I cross back over the bridge.

Back at Marian Corner many of the cars waiting for the road to open before have now been replaced by new arrivals. There's also a kea entertaining the visitors (not the one from the lookout as this one has a band)...

...I take the opportunity of educate these visitors that they are not allowed to feed the Kea, human food is bad for them and endangers their health and also makes them dependent on human food and stops them from foraging for their own food. Before I'm finished someone else arrives and throws the bird more Cheezels. I give up! 

One last photo of the Hollyford River & a snow dusted East Peak at the tail end of the Darran Mountains. 

Key Summit

The beauty of having ten days to explore the Milford Road was that we could pick & choose when to do activities that depended on the weather, in particular having a clear day to enjoy the views. There would be no point whatsoever in expending all that energy climbing the Key Summit on an overcast day & especially if there was low cloud.

So even though the day dawned with our first heavy frost, we knew it was going to be another clear sunny day. A good day to climb Key Summit.

Key Summit is a “small” (for this area) 918m summit, and forms the western end of the “Great Walk”; the Routeburn Track which takes 3 days to complete. A number of years ago we walked to the Routeburn Falls Hut, a day walk in from the eastern end of the track. Maybe one day we’ll be able to join the dots & complete the whole track!

Key Summit is a three hour return journey although it took us much longer to complete as we had lunch and an hour or so exploring the summit itself which is home to tarns and an alpine wetland. It also has glorious 360 degree views of the Darran & Humboldt Mountains & the Hollyford, Greenstone & Eglinton Valleys. And although it says three hours it would have taken us at least four without the exploring, for us it was quite a steep track, the initial 300 metres or so climbed steadily through mossy, silver beech forest on an often rocky & slippery track- not always as bad as shown below.

Occasionally there would be a break in the bush where a slip had happen or a tree fallen over & we would get a partial view of the snow capped mountains that would be awaiting us in all their full splendour at the top. These glimpses also gave us an excuse to pause & get our breath back- usually just as younger, fitter people strode on past.

Finally after an hour or so we arrive at a fork in the track, a signpost indicated the Routeburn Track continued on in one direction & the Key Summit in the other. It was with much consternation that David noted it was still another hour to the top including the Alpine Walk. He wanted to take the shorter 15 minute walk to the Howden Hut (along the Routeburn) but I was having none of it. We had come so far, we weren’t going to abort now. Just after this point we broke out of the bush and into the open & the track zig-zagged back and forward at least a dozen times as it climbed the last section up to the summit. Just when you’d think you’ve walked the last zig or zag another appeared. It was hot & tiring but we got there in the end helped along by the enthusiastic encouragement of people returning down the track, people who would have struggled up this section too- "not long now", "it's worth it" "you're nearly there".

Hollyford Valley

And then finally we were at the top in amongst an alpine tarn high in the Fiordland Mountains. What a fantastic view it was and an amazing wonderland in amongst the bogs & tarns.

Humboldt Mountains

This was the view across to the Darran Mountains and there in centre was the hanging valley with Lake Marian clearing in view. We had visited the Marian Cascade (Waterfall) the day before and now we had no need to walk up the steep & rugged Lake Marian track, we’d seen the lake from across the divide!

There is a lot of different fauna & flora up on the summit in amongst the tarns; tussock and stunted bush including this little tomtit, a very well camouflaged grasshopper & lots of tiny berries & flowers.

Alpine Gentian

But the most beautiful sight of all was the colour & reflections of the mountains in the different tarns dotted around the top. Deep spongy moss and other wetland plants surrounded the little pools and boardwalks protected the fragile environment from foot traffic.

And I'm sorry for the number of photos but they were all so beautiful it was hard to choose.

The stunted beech trees, some thought to be at least 400-500 years old were surrounded in lime green & rust coloured mosses, much like their counterparts back down the mountain, deep in the forest. Their branches & trunks were swathed in thick moss and more moss hung off the branches providing an ideal habitat for the insects and birds.

Before long it was time to retrace our steps with a quick stop at the one & only toilet on the track, tied down to protect it from the ferocious winds that must on occasions whip across this exposed peak.

Time for one last lingering look down the Hollyford Valley and a refill at a crystal clear, very cold trickle of water that was coming out the side of a bank on the edge of the track. Our very own Evian water source. We encouraged a guy walking uphill to put his head under it to cool down, it was a scorcher of an afternoon and many were struggling up the track especially after it broke out of the cool bush.

Evian, France 2006

It was a steady but not rushed walk back down to the carpark and by the end our knees and toes were complaining loudly, they had had enough of being forced downhill. Aside from the little bit of discomfort in the climb and then the sore legs on the return I would highly recommend this walk but the key (no pun intended) is to give yourself plenty of time. There’s no point in rushing up, having a quick look (ticking the box) and then heading home, where’s the joy in that.