And on this final day, we start from Te Anau to see the few shops in town before darting up to Milford Sound.

(Okay, technically there is one more day after this, but the drive from Te Anau to Dunedin is such a dreadfully boring one to me I found no inspiration for photographs. So this is it!)

Te Anau

A good omen at the start of the day! Wish us well, little fellow.

A great Takahe statue required some poses.
Same expression.

State Highway 94 / Milford Sound

Walker Creek

Now we start our journey to Milford Sound along State Highway 94. Much like the rest of the roadtrip, the weather was extremely threatening, so it was uncertain if we could make it or if rain and snow would stop us. Still, we ventured on.

This shot was just a little further down the road from Walker Creek, on a small roadside bay.

Cascade Creek

Pop’s View Lookout

Falls Creek Carpark

That’s right, we stopped at Falls Creek, but never actually got the Falls themselves. Why? Because a couple of extremely mischievous Kea took the spotlight and kept me there for a good fifteen minutes — I wanted to beat the weather to the Sound! Plus, the Kea were starting to eye up the car… best not leave it unattended.

Homer Tunnel

Becca, an Australian (we forgive her) has never touched snow before! Thankfully, the Homer tunnel still had some this late into Spring.

And Jack needed to live the masculine dream to die in a snowbank.
The tunnel itself. I emphasized several times on the way up that we were, in fact, going through a mountain, but it wasn’t until this view that it really sunk in.

The Chasm

Through the tunnel safely, I was more confident we would be making it to the Sound and back before the weather! We stopped for a slightly longer walk through the Chasm, although much of the loop track was closed due to possible slips (again, blame the weather).

Milford Sound

And so, after two long hours of very challenging driving, we reach Milford Sound. As promised on the first day, we touched the waters of the Tasman Sea (albeit quite the distance from the coast proper) and breathed a sigh of contentment.

This framing and expression gives me Robert Falcon Scott energy, so perhaps the omen on day one was not misplaced.
But this is the real Robert Falcon Scott portrait. Hello, Milford Sound, it has been some time.

We’re dropping the hardest album of the summer — folk remixes of birdsong.

And with that final (and only) group photo, I draw this roadtrip to a close. Thanks for reading, thanks for viewing, and thanks for your attention.