We have been watching the weather reports throughout the trip and knew that today was predicted to be wet. However, I wasn’t too concerned as we knew that Milford Sound is supposed to be spectacular in really wet weather because of the multitude of temporary waterfalls that come to life in the rain.
For most of our day yesterday at Dountful Sound we had no mobile signal, and it wasn’t until we were on the boat heading back across Manapouri Lake that we could get a signal. I checked the weather report and was a bit taken aback to see that there was now a “Severe Rain Warning” for the Fiordland region for today. Neil and I were just discussing how this may affect our tour to Milford when I realised I had a notification from our Milford Sound tour operator… Unfortunately the expected severe weather meant that Milford Road would almost certainly be closed due to avalanche risk, so they had to cancel today’s tour! They asked if we wanted to shift to another date, but that wasn’t an option for us… so we sighed and asked for a refund.
So the plan for today was that we’d have a quiet day, an enforced rest-day, not something we usually have on our travels! When we did our grocery shopping last night we bought some extra provisions for today for lunch etc.
The rain fell heavily overnight and Neil said there was thunder at one stage ( I slept through it!) and we woke to very grey, misty skies this morning. I had wondered if maybe the tour operators were being over cautious but when I checked online , yes Milford Road IS closed all day today.
We slept in , had a lazy breakfast and spent a quiet morning catching up on laundry and blogs etc.
The weather was starting to improve by the time we made ourselves toasted sandwiches for lunch with leftover chicken and salad from last nights dinner. So after lunch we hopped in the car and went for a drive up the road leading to Milford Sound,. We knew where the road was closed ( quite some distance from Te Anau) so we thought we might stop at some of the viewpoints before that point. We passed the sign telling us where Milford was closed, there was no missing it! The road follows the lake and leads at one stage through a pretty forested area.
A little further down the road we arrived at the Te Anau Downs Viewpoint, which is the point that marks the start of the Milford Track. Hikers have to take a boat across the lake to where the actual trailhead starts. Erin walked the Milford Track several years ago, when I get home I must ask her again how she managed the logistics of the walk.
The further north we drove the worse the weather became so we decided to give up on the Milford Road and head back to Te Anau, where the sun was shining. Mind you, having the sun shining doesn’t seem to stop the rain here – I don’t think I’ve ever experienced as many sun showers as we have in this part of the world!
The sun was shining ( and the rain was only lightly spitting) when we drove out around passed the golf course to the Lake Te Anau Control Gates. There is some information here about the process the gates use in controlling the flow of water from here to manapuri Lake. This also happens to be the starting point for the Kepler Track, another of New Zealand’s Great Walks. So I guess I could say we have walked the Kepler Track ( or at least 200 metres of it!)
We looked around the weir and tried to work out where the water was coming from that was bubbling and boiling behind the gate walls. We eventually realised the gates were slightly open beneath the water level and the lake water was rushing up into the semi enclosed areas with a whirl and a rush before they finally flowed away down the river.
We could see Te Anau township across the lake and I even managed to spot our hotel in the distance.
As we drove back towards the hotel we stopped in to see the Te Anau Bird Sanctuary. This is a small sanctuary run by the Department of Conservation and hosts a hald dozen cages with breeding pairs of some of New Zealand’s endagered birds. They have no Kaka at the moment ( the cheeky parrots we saw in the North Island) but they did have a cage with some Takahe. They are quite large, around the size of a large chicken and flightless. They are very pretty with shimmery feathers in dark greens and blue. Once presumed extinct for nearly 50 years, the takahē was famously rediscovered in 1948 in the remote Murchison Mountains of Fiordland. The information board said there are only 300 remaining alive, only 130 in the wild and the rest in sanctuaries like this one.
We stopped at another cage where there were a pair of Kakariki, New Zealand Parakeets. They were lovely little birds, vivdly green and very friendly. They flew straight over to greet us as soon as we arrived at the cage. There are around 3000 of these left so they are also at risk.
The weather closed in again and by 5pm it was drizzly and windy again. I was keen to go to the Fat Duck Gastropub for dinner, I’d read it won the Best Gastropub in NZ Award for 2025, but it’s been closed the last few nights. When we walked in the door at 5.20pm, my heart sank as every table had a reserved sign in it! However, they were able to seat us if we promised to leave before 7.15pm, when they needed the table so we peeled off our raincoats and sat down to enjoy a lovely meal. We shared duck wontons for entree and I had the most delicious twice-baked Pork Belly, while Neil had a Chicken breast witn roast Kumara, Leaks and Marinated Cabbage. The food was excellent!
Despite missing out on Milford Sound we’ve enjoyed our stay in Te Anau, and we’re already thinking about how we might come back and try again to see Milford Sound. But next time we will come in the warmer weather when there is no avalanche risk!