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Detailed travelogue on Australia and New Zealand
Detailed Travelogue on Australia and New Zealand
Larry2006-05-27 03:23:16
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about this tunnel is that it doesn't LOOK like a tunnel. It
looks like a hole that's just been blasted in the mountain last Tuesday.
The tunnel is long, cold, damp, completely un-lit, and large enough only for
one-way traffic. Before you enter, you must stop and make sure there are no
cars or tour buses coming towards you, because once inside the tunnel,
there's really no place to move aside. Once it looks clear, you turn on
your lights (there are no lights in the tunnel), and start driving through,
slowly and carefully. Then, somewhere in the middle -- out of nowhere --
buckets of water suddenly fall from the ceiling and hit your car. You slow
down even more, and turn on the wipers. Finally, you've reached the other
side, where, by now, a line of cars and tour busses has formed, waiting to
enter going the other direction.
The "town" of Milford isn't really much of a town. It basically consists
of a hotel, a restaurant, and a landing where the many tour boats depart
from. It's also the final stop along the "Milford Track", a famous 4-day
walk that is so famous, you must now make reservations in order to walk the
track (often needed months in advance, so the sparse accomidations along the
way aren't overbooked). I met a few people who walked the track, and all
spoke highly of it, especially because the often-changable weather in the
area had been particularly good lately. I was lucky too -- on the day I
visited Milford Sound, I was told that Milford was in the middle of a
"drought" -- it had been five days since the last rain (this in an area
where the average rainfall is a whopping 5.5 metres, or almost 17 feet).
I arrived in Milford Sound and had a light lunch at the restaurant
(toasted ham and cheese sandwich with a Deep Spring soda, of course) while I
waited for my cruise boat to depart. A few days
...
See photographs from:
Australia Gallery
,
New Zealand Gallery
