We were travelling to Milford Sounds, when we suddenly found ourselves in a misty amphitheatre.

 

Leading up to and into the arena: 

The valley we were travelling through was getting narrow, with high mountains on each side of us. A rushing river was tight close to the road. You could feel the drama of the place.

Here waterfalls were fall all around you, adding to and the excitement building up in you. Never seen so many waterfalls in all our lives; and so close to you as well!

And then we were suddenly in a… 

Grand amphitheatre!

We were surrounded by very high misty mountains and cliff faces.  The place is before the Homer Tunnel, where you have to line up your cars to wait your turn to go through the tunnel. 

The open space we were in was really enormous: 

Because it’s such a phenomenal place, you feel you mustn’t miss this! So you willingly get out of the tunnel line and park on the side of the road. And when you first get out of your cars, you stand all amazed. 

That’s when you realize how great God is and how he created the earth in all its wondrous beauty. It reminded me of the hymn, “How Great Thou Art” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1hVY7bmqsA 

Then we remembered to take out our cameras to photograph the magnitude of the amphitheatre and arena. 

On our right was an amphitheatre range of mountains with waterfalls running down the centre and sides. And a little stream was trickling and winding down the slope.

Behind us, looking down the road from the way we came was also high misty mountains. They towered over the road.

Then on our left, opposite the amphitheatre, was a wall of mountains, with waterfalls running down its face.

The place may seem grey!

Looking around, the ground was mostly made up of grey stones and gravel.  

Photographs can’t do justice to what we saw! For one thing, the camera makes the sheer height of the mountains and waterfalls look squat and trivial in the vast cannon ambiance.  

And for another thing the mist and fine spray from the waterfalls makes everything look so grey.  

But there is colour there too, if you look at the photos, you will see golden dry grass, green moss and fern foliage on the sides and walls of the arena.  

The Kara parrot:

We were also surprised to see a Kara bird there too. It’s a medium-sized heavy bird, usually a noisy forest parrot. But when we saw it, it was very quiet and checking us all out. I think it was used to tourists and was hoping they would feed it. 

We had to wait our turn:

Getting back in our cars we waited in line for our turn to go through the Homer Tunnel. The tunnel would take us through to the Milford Fjord side of the mountain range.  

There’s a robot (traffic lights) on each end of Homer Tunnel, allowing only a few cars at a time to pass through the tunnel. First one way, and then from the other side… when the robot turned green for you to pass through. 

The long scary tunnel:

The reason why the tunnel was so scary is that it is narrow and there doesn’t seem to be any re-enforcement of its walls. So it gives you the impression that it could cave in at any moment.  

It was with a sigh of relief that we at last got through safely to the other side. 

Next week’s blog on New Zealand: 

When I’ll tell what we found on the other side of the tunnel.