10 February 2015 - Cascade Creek DOC Camp, Eglington Valley, Fiordland

Lake Te Anau was so very serene this morning as we drove along the foreshore, the wind stilled for the moment and the skies clear promising a superb stage for a sunny day. We topped up with water and diesel, and called again at the FreshChoice supermarket; Chris was panicking about the possibility of running out of bread and like sustenance should we choose to linger on the way to Milford and back. The day’s newspaper was accompanied by a packet of biscuits and several of crisps and like products, all recently excluded from our shopping list as a combatant to weight gain. I struggled to find space for these fragile extras; shuffling of healthier items made way for these. At last we were away by 10.30 am after texting family for the last time to advise we were heading off into the cellphone deprived wilderness.

The 120 kilometre road from Te Anua to Milford is on the must-do list for every tourist travelling the South Island, and if done in a whizz-bang van, probably done in a hasty two and a half hour trip and the same back, while gasping at the spectacularly scenery as one passes. Some will stay a night, or even two, at one of the many DOC camps along the way, most of these located along the Eglington Valley, and all in wonderfully scenic spots. Those prepared to spend on special trips will possibly travel up by coach, having left Te Anau or further afield at some ungodly hour and taken to meet one of the cruise boats that leave from Milford, to drift out into the deep fiords beneath spectacular waterfalls, before returning and being taken back by coach, stopping if they are lucky at one of the specially beautiful attractions along the way. Or you can travel as we do, at a speed that allows one to savour everything along the way.

Just twenty seven kilometres north of Te Anau, we pulled into the car park for Lake Mistletoe and set off on the three quarters of an hour return walk. The lake is very pretty and the walk back along the western and northern edge passes through a lovely patch of beech forest, emerging back out of the main road across from the lake shore. It takes much less time that the brochures say but is still worth the stop if you have plenty of time and a yen to stretch the legs.

Near here is the departure point for the Milford Track, another of the Great Walks, which requires a boat trip to the both the start and end, the latter being at Milford Sound. This very famous walk, often described as being one of the finest in the world,  is 53.5 kilometres long and generally covered in four days, in fact the word “generally” is not really correct; the number of walkers is limited each year, accommodation is only in huts and you are obliged to follow a set itinerary. Chris did it as a young man when the rules were almost non-existent, my parents did it about twenty years ago and I suspect I will never know the joys of this now so-prescribed track.

Leaving the farm land, much of it seeming to be reverted from its heyday, we entered the Fiordland National Park and followed the Eglington River up through avenues of beech forest. There are many small camp grounds along the way, all very simple and served by long drop toilets. The Eglington River is yet another of the South Island braided rivers although not as wide as those further north, but then that is because the valley is not wide at all.

We pulled into a lookout point along a wider section of the valley, a photo opportunity with views of expansive river flats and majestic towering peaks.

We stopped too at the Mirror Lakes, where on a very still day one can enjoy the reflective views of the Earl Mountains. These “lakes” are really just abandoned ribbons of the river, now enjoyed by an assortment of birdlife. A wide boardwalk along the roadside of the pools allows lovely views even if not the ones suggested.

Knobs Flat sixty two kilometres from Te Anau now has updated toilet facilities and a few information  panels. Signs suggest you pay $2 to make use of the last flush toilets before Milford Sound and perhaps the many European travellers think nothing of forking out to have a pee. It is not normally the New Zealand way however we were saved the protest non-payment; we had called into the long-drops just up the road.

Here we learned about the Homer Tunnel construction and the history thereof, the tunnel still some distance ahead, and about the endangered southern lesser short-tailed bats, South Island long-tailed bats and yellow head birds that are being nurtured by DOC. I was appalled to see pictures of stoats being tagged for tracking purposes; I say kill the buggers before they do more damage. Surely an expensive tag gives them licence to wreck further damage on a scientifically recorded path which might make for interesting spread sheets but does the birdlife little good. 

We had checked out the descriptions of the ten or so DOC camps, as to how easily they could accommodate large vehicles rather than whizz-bang vans or tent travellers. The camp at Cascade Creek seemed most appropriate so it is here we headed, just less than seventy eight kilometres from Te Anau. Here there is a volunteer caretaker, a couple of senior years who are happy to have “rent free” wheel space for their large bus motorhome in such a pretty place. While the camp is named after the creek it lies adjacent to, there is a bonus cascade for those who bother to drive in; high above a pencil this waterfall plunges off the mountain down into the Eglington River. It really is quite wonderful.

The was a major camp site for road workers during the 1930s construction of the Milford Road and became the headquarters of the Public Works department until the road reached the Marion Corner in the Hollyford valley, a spot we will pass by tomorrow or the day after.  Since then it has been the location of tearooms and cabins but these have been lost along the way to fire and floods and now there is nothing but a few long drops. It is a very popular spot; there are probably forty separate camping parties in here tonight. 

Here too is the access point to the forty five minute Lake Gunn Nature Walk, a circuit through ancient tall red beech forest and along the southern end of the lovely small Lake Gunn. We came upon bell birds and robins on our wander, the latter so very tame it is no wonder that predators keep their numbers down. 

While the stillness of the morning has long passed, it was pleasant enough for Chris to cook our dinner outdoors, the first time for some time. And it is lovely indeed to be camping in the wild even if with eighty odd other tourists!