Tramping (Hiking) in New Zealand #11: Chasm Walk and Milford Sound

The next day after finishing Greenstone and Caples track, our plan was going to the West Coast, but not quite sure if we should go. First, we stopped at the town of Wanaka and had lunch at a restaurant. I had fish and chips, which is one of the signature dishes in New Zealand. They were good. I like fish very much, because I am from an island.

The reason why we were concerned about going to the West coast was weather and road situation. New Zealand weather pattern is: rain comes from West and hit the mountains, then east of mountains are less rainy. There was a week of rain just before we landed on New Zealand on the west coast. It led to a lot of land slides on the west and there was only one road to go to the west from anywhere else in NZ at that time due to road closures. So if something happened there would be a possibility for us to be stuck on the west. 

When we asked a person at the tourist center in Wanaka, she said "Oh I wouldn't go to west" Then she said, "There is Department of Conservation down the street. They might have more information."

We went to the DOC centre and got more information. 

We got information that the road closure was due to 200 mm of rain for 7 consecutive days. It is unlikely to happen very often. Even heavy rain warning we got during Greenstone backpacking was like 70 mm of rain. 

The road closure portion was going to be ended on Dec 25 according to Google map. DOC centre person informed Mr.N, "Don't trust Google map, dear." and told him about the NZ public road information site. According to that, the road was going to open much earlier. With those information, we made a decision to go to the west. 

BEAUTIFUL

Driving out of the Greenstone area there were many breathtaking views. I loved the area. A bunch of falls were coming out from glaciers on the huge rocks were so beautiful. That area is very pretty, but there is not much tracks at least officially: maybe there are. Local must know. 

Then we did a small hike of 20 min: The Chasm Walk

The Chasm Walk

Type: Lollipop

Time Spent: 20 minutes

Distance:  400 meters (0.25 mile)

Elevation change:  neglectable

Ha! I don't usually go walking this type of very short walk, but this was very interesting. You can see a real power of water here. 

patholes

After a lot of rain, the water go flow the river. Because there is so much water with strong current, water picks up pebbles and stones. Then those stones curve the rock. Rocks get a hole. Then more pebbles come to a hole and roll in the hole. The holes are potholes. Patholes are seen in the right picture. Some potholes have small pebbles in side (a picture below)

As you can see in the picture, the current is super strong. There are bridges above the chasm and you can see these from the top. It is very powerful. Also it is very strong sound from this fast current. Wow.

Milford

Lastly, we stopped by Milford Sound on the way to the West coast. Milford is one or the most popular international tourists' destination. Milford has a "Great Walk", however, it is the most expensive Great Walk. First of all you need to take a boat to start Milford Track. Then the hut cost is $140/person/night (no food!). No camping is allowed. Only one direction is allowed to walk, which means that you need a shuttle afterwards. Super expensive. So we decided to do just checking out Lake Te Anau.
Milford sound consists of fiord. There are a number of valleys carved by glaciers. It is interesting to see glaciers and the ocean at the same time. It is indeed a unique view. It used to be all ice up high, so there was no mountains, now those glaciers were melted and valleys appeared. It is pretty and it would be nice to kayak or take a boat tour when I have an opportunity to come back someday.