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. 

It’s Not Called a Rainforest for Nothing

Realtime

We are back in Te Anau again after five rain soaked days down the Milford Road. Yes, the weather forecast was for rain before we left but we figured we’d head to Cascade Creek and see how we went. It’s the middle of summer, right? The rain wouldn’t last for too long, right? Wrong. The forecast just got worse by the day, a stalled weather system above Fiordland National Park brought rain off and on for the first couple of days and then heavy rain for the next three and even now back in Te Anau the forecast is still for heavy rain for the coming four days as well. As I told a few tourists who asked if the rain would stop soon, “you can't have a rainforest if you don’t have rain”.

It’s just as well the last time we visited the Milford Road we had fabulous weather for the nearly 2 weeks we stayed at Cascade Creek exploring the National Park and Milford Sound. It was sunshine every day bar one- the one we walked a section of the famous Milford Track. That day it was torrential rain, the track was flooded, we couldn’t see more than a few feet in front of us and we were soaked to the skin by the time we returned to Milford and our vehicle. But the drive home was magic, the mountains came alive with hundreds of waterfalls cascading down the sheer rock wall faces as we drove through the valleys.

We’d seen the park in all weathers so we weren’t too concerned this time, we were re-visiting Milford Road to complete a couple of walks we’d missed the last time, do some bird-watching and see some of the areas in a different season.

We stopped at the DOC Camp at Cascade Creek again, the last DOC Camp on the Milford Road and still 43km from Milford Sound itself. It felt like coming home when we pulled into the camp, our same patch in the wilderness was available too! Although if we’d arrived much later in the day I’m sure the site would have been taken. It’s the height of the tourist season and by early evening there were over 120 vehicles parked around the perimeter of the camp and I’m sure more arrived later in the evening. Lucky Cascade Creek is a large area and most campers headed for the bush. This was taken from the doorway, there are nearly as many vehicles in the other direction as well.

The 45 minute loop Lake Gunn Nature Walk is right beside Cascade Creek and is, in my opinion, one of the best short walks along the Milford Road. For people on a tight time schedule or those with less mobility, this walk is a must. The understory is phenomenal, a thick carpet of emerald green mosses smother everything in sight, fallen trees which litter the forest floor are quickly reclaimed by the moss and fungi- moss and fungi that require rain to work their magic. Rotting trees fall apart at the slightest touch. It’s no wonder the Lake Gunn walk and surrounding mountains were used by Sir Peter Jackson in the Misty Mountain scenes in the Lord of the Rings- The Fellowship of the Ring.

The bird life is also amazing…if you stop to listen and observe. It never fails to amaze me how many people comment about the lack of bird life in our bush. I’m sure they must be the ones that stride along the tracks loudly proclaiming to their fellow walkers that there’s nothing to see. Hidden behind trunks, running along branches, flitting about in the undergrowth, are some of New Zealand’s tiniest birds. These little birds are a bit like Kiwis (the people,  not the bird), quiet and reserved- ok, just kidding. If you listen carefully the forest is alive with tiny pips and tweets; contact and alarm calls between birds and their families.

This is New Zealand’s smallest bird, a juvenile Rifleman/Titiponamu (female). She was part of a family of 5 hunting for insects through the lower canopy of the forest.

A male Tomtit/Miromiro is just a little large than the Rifleman but a lot easier to spot as they launch themselves off trunks to catch insects on the fly. Their call is also a little louder, their alarm call a lot louder.

The clouds hung low over Lake Gunn (Misty Mountains?) and Cascade Creek most days, rain squalls passing through on a regular basis for the first two days.

One of the walks we missed last time was the walk to Lake Marian, a small alpine lake in a hanging valley high above the Hollyford Valley. We could see the lake from across the Divide when we walked to the top of Key Summit, part of the Routeburn Track, on our last visit. That was a gut-busting walk and this one proved to be as well.

The Marian Falls, a series of cascading waterfalls are a major attraction at the bottom of the walk, a swing bridge crosses the Hollyford River and a short walk leads to a board walk and viewing platforms that hang off the side of the rock walls.

Beyond the falls the track becomes a seriously tough climb (especially if you take a wrong turn), up and onwards towards the lake that feeds the falls below, it's a 3km, 3hour return walk. We took an extra half an hour as it was very slow coming down, David twisted his knee and had to step carefully and go backwards. Luckily he did no major damage, I had visions of setting off our EPIRB at one stage! :)

It was raining and the cloud was low when we left Cascade Creek but by the time we arrived at the lake carpark (just 8kms or so down the road) the cloud had lifted, the rain stopped and blue sky appeared. It was the only blue sky we were to see on our visit to Milford.

Climbing up this rock slide was tough work, we had just emerged form our ‘wrong turn’ track to see people that had been behind us, out in front.

We have no idea where the wrong turn was but others had done the same as the track was formed although really rough and hard to negotiate. Later on we spoke to another couple who had done the same thing. David think’s it was when a side track led to a view over the river, instead of turning back we carried on along the track. We should have clicked though, as there were no orange DOC markers. I looked for the turn on our way back down but still didn’t see where we went wrong.

Finally the track levelled out and after a short distance the bush opened up to reveal a beautiful snow fed alpine lake, Lake Marian…

…and a mermaid!

Not quite what you expect to see high up in the mountains in the middle of nowhere on a relatively cold day. And not one mermaid either, but two and a few Neptunes as well! It must be a thing they have on their ‘must do’ list when visiting NZ- ‘swim in an alpine lake’, there were two other groups that arrived and had a swim too. I say swim but in fact it was more of a quick dip, a yell of surprise and a quick dash for the towel.

We had lunch on the rocks beside the lake listening to the calls of the kea soaring about above us, the squeals of the swimmers as they splashed about in the water and exclamations of joy as others arrived through the gap onto the lake shore behind us.

After lunch I walked around the lake edge to see if I could find the river outlet but it was hidden amongst the boulders in an unreachable corner where the water was this beautiful colour.

The blue sky had disappeared by the time we reached the lake with the cloud rolling back in. By the time we got back to our vehicle the rain had arrived again. We had timed the walk just right! On the way back down the track I found a tiny patch of native NZ Greenhood Orchids poking their heads out of the jumble of overgrown ferns.

It rained heavily overnight and all through the next day which suited us fine as we took the day off to rest our weary bones after the climb to Lake Marian.

It was still raining the next day but we decided to drive through to Milford Sound anyway, well in fact as the rain got heavier and heavier as we progressed through the mountains, we thought we might only go as far as the Homer Tunnel.

We stopped at Monkey Creek, a very popular lookout point down the Upper Hollyford Valley (when the weather is clear), it’s also where Kea (NZ’s alpine parrot) sometimes hang out and sure enough there were 4 or 5 bouncing around the carpark, one pulling at a guys shoelaces as he was preoccupied with his head under the bonnet of his car. A couple of tour buses pulled in behind us and as soon as the people started to appear the kea quickly came over to check them out. Well most of them did, a couple disappeared under the nearest bush.

I know the feeling mate- wet and bedraggled a kea and it’s juvenile chick take a back seat for while.

Even in the heavy rain there was plenty of traffic moving to and from Milford Sound, so many tour buses and motorhomes along with rental cars, the road was extremely busy. I’ve read figures on the DOC blogs that mention on peak days there are over 1,000 vehicles visiting Milford Sound each day.

We pulled over at the Homer Tunnel to check out the waterfalls cascading down the rock walls.

Many others did too, some venturing close to the water. Can you see the person at the bottom of the falls?

We decided as we’d come this far we might as well carry on to Milford Sound where we found the carparks overflowing and the rain gone for the moment.

We’ve already cruised Milford Sound- on a fine day. We wandered down to the wharf to check it out. Mitre Peak had its head in the clouds.

Most of the tour boats were out on the Sound…

…with a couple waiting to board passengers or just departing on their next cruise.

Looking back towards the tiny village of Milford from the wharf with Sheerdown Peak behind.

We left Milford and headed back into the mountains where is was still raining. We pulled into the Chasm carpark thinking we might have lunch in our vehicle while watching the tour buses arrive and depart but it was just too wet for me to organise a cup of tea on my seat while standing in the rain so instead…

…I joined the throng of tourists with their colourful umbrellas and wet-weather ponchos and walked the short distance to view the Chasm, a place where the Cleddau River is forced into a 22m deep and narrow ravine. I’d seen it on our last visit but thought I might as well see it again, who knows when or if we’ll be back this way in the future.

I did feel sorry for the busloads of tourists, most would have left Queenstown in the morning where it was fine and sunny. This would be their one and only chance to visit Milford and while the waterfalls are spectacular there’s nothing that can compare to the stunning views of the mountains along the Milford Road on a clear day.

The cloud lifted and the rain stopped for a brief moment as we drove up the Cleddau Valley towards the Homer Tunnel…

…but just a minute later, both were back.

We pulled into a layby just below the tunnel and decided we’d now have lunch overlooking the valley below- the rain started just as we stopped. A few tour buses on their way to Milford also stopped to let their passengers out to see the view. We were soon surrounded by trigger happy tourists but thankfully the heavy rain soon had them scurrying back to the bus. Though our view disappeared too- underneath the approaching rain cloud and behind the fogged up windows!

We waited for the lights to change before we pulled up to the head of the queue to wait for the tunnel lights to change again, it's a 6 minute wait which is great if you’re wanting to take photos. Last time we stopped here we were accosted by a lone kea begging for treats. There were none waiting today.

We made it home safe and sound and not too wet all things considered. With heavy rain forecast for the next few days (at one stage, 500mm for the weekend) we decided we’d head back to Te Anau. We’d done the one walk we’d missed last time and a couple of the others I had in mind we would have been re-doing some sections so they can wait until our next visit…if there is another visit. I was disappointed to not get some bright time in the forest with the birds but again, all things considered, I still managed a few half decent shots.

Milford is definitely a fabulous place to visit, but I think I prefer it when it’s sunny. But…as I kept telling anyone who’d listen, you can’t have a rainforest without rain.


Realtime- I thought I’d add either Realtime or Catch-up to the start of my blog posts because I know I sometimes get confused when I look back at the blog posts as to whether they are current or a catch-up post and I’m sure some of you do too, so now you’ll know.