Driving through Milford Sound

[Octane]

If anyone has a few lazy minutes and wanted a bit of cathartic relaxation, then, this is for you.

I filmed this while driving through Milford Sound earlier last year.

It's taken me so long to get around to start sorting out my videos. They're all slowly being uploaded.

This is the same location where I shot Milford by Moonlight (http://users.tpg.com.au/octane2/mbm.html).

This one was 4 GB in size and took 3 days to upload, in 1920x1080p HD.

You don't have to watch the whole thing, but, the first few minutes should give you enough.

Hopefully, it will also go to show you why I find New Zealand such an inspirational place, not just for my photography.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhUe5UNiIHo

More details in the description.

Enjoy.

H

[that_guy]

YEEEEEEE.. This was filmed on my birthday :P
and Holy Crap the View when you get out of that tunnel.... :O

[multiweb]

Wow! Impressive the amount of water that's running off the sides of those mountains. You wonder where all this water goes. Is the road elevated?

[Liz]

Beautiful H!! Bought back some wonderful memories, though there was not that many waterfalls when I was there. :) :thumbsup:

[Strawb]

Was ALWAYS cold, wet and miserable - thats why I live here now:)

[Omaroo]

Pretty spesh Humayun. I really need to go over and photograph the place. I've been there a hundred times on business yet haven't seen any of it. Maybe this year...:question:

[Bassnut]

Hard core, the best. The west coast is oft at its most interesting in bad weather. As a young fellow I often motorcycled through it, the atmosphere whilst actually in it can be extreme and very dramatic. Inspirational photography H, you caught the feeling well.

[DavidTrap]

Wow! It's just soooo different to Australia.

DT

[bloodhound31]

Sigh....ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....

[SkyViking]

What an awesome video H, and what a mountain of water! I went through the Homer Tunnel a few years ago and it is indeed a spectacular place. Thanks very much for posting this. I can't wait to go back there.

[Ric]

How spectacular is that.

Great stuff H.

Cheers

[AstroFlyer]

Very cool!:thumbsup:
Reminded me of our trip to Milford Sound in 1987, virtually the same weather.
Love that place.

Chhers
Arek

[M54]

Thankyou so much for that H.

Just BEAUTIFUL!

:prey2:

[barx1963]

Fantastic Video H!
We did that drive back in 2008, I think last week of Sept, we left Queenstown at 5am, drove to Te Anau, booked into a Motel then drove to Milford Sound. We left Te Anau and it was overcast and drizzly all the way to the tunnel. Other end of the tunnel it was blue skies and 20 degrees. When we got to Milford it was still clear but each peak had a little cloud on top. It had bee going through a dry spell so the waterfalls on the Sound were running very low but apart from that it was absolutely spectacular! Saw seals and penguins in the sound and had one of the highlights of my travelling life.
Oh and when I say dry spell it hadn't rained for 2 weeks, and in that part of the world not raining for 6 days counts as a drought, at least thats what they told us on the boat!
Malcolm

[Spanrz]

Must say H, that is just awesome. Very much relaxed.

It is very much like the scenery in way Upstate NY (north of Albany). We did a Snow trip this time last year and it sorta looked like this. The Snow, Ice and the melting of it was just weird and wonderful.

Amazing. :D

[Octane]

Thank you so much, everyone, for having watched and commented.

I can't begin to explain just how much of a rush it was driving through that rain. It's probably not all that evident, but, I was driving pretty quickly -- only way to enjoy it. I love driving. And, that stretch of road is just simply a driver's dream come true.

I am also very pleased with how the music, particularly the first track, sets the soundtrack to the visuals. They both just meld.

I have more videos of other places that I'll be putting up soon.

H

[Octane]

One thing, if anyone ever goes there, is to try spending a night in the Milford Lodge, particularly in the chalet.

They're really quite beautiful lodges right on the river, and, across the river is the standard megalith of the region, with waterfalls falling right in front of your face.

The real fun begins after it gets dark. Really dark. I got back at about 12:30 AM after having taken that photograph (link in original post) and by the time I'd showered, etc., was in bed by around 1:30 AM or so. That's when the wind started howling. For the next 2-3 hours, I didn't get a wink of sleep -- I thought I was going to die that night.

From my bed, I could see one window, which was close to the roof, and, about 1-1.5 metres long, by about 60 cm high. All I could see through that window, under the moonlight, was a tree pretty much bent at 90 degrees from the force of the wind! It just got more ferocious as the night wore on. It must have let up around twilight.

The following morning I asked the reception whether that was a storm that passed through the night before. The receptionist said that that happened every night!

The following night, the same thing happened, but, I slept so soundly -- knowing that I was safe in these lodges that have been designed to put up with the harsh weather. It was pretty darn awesome just being out in the middle of nature. : )

H

[Lee]

It is a great drive - don't try in August though, my wife and I went in Aug 2008. Couldn't drive to Milford - "avalanche imminent" warning and road closed .... :scared:

Had to sepnd an extra day in Te Anau.... boring.

[CometGuy]

Thx for posting this H..a really wonderful video. New Zealand has some truly exotic locations, Milford being just one of them :)

Please post more video's!

Terry

[RobF]

Thanks for sharing H. Truely a special place. Too long since I've bee there.

[Analog6]

I was there about 3 weeks after that, and it was gloriously fine, even on the Sound itself. The whole of NZ is gorgeous but Fiordland is spectacular, the only language to describe it is by superlatives.

I found the Homer Tunnel quite creepy to drive through, which I know sounds silly but it gave me the heebie jeebies.

I stayed at Milford Lodge too, but only the bunk rooms as I was on a budget. I was so tired no gale would have kept me awake! And the Lodge has the most wonderful drying room, it was cold and damp when I was there and I dried all my stuff in there overnight.

[BakerStreet]

We did this run in September 2010 during the SUPER storm that hit southland doing a lot damage and killing lots of livestock. The road had been closed for a week before we arrived due to the snow but opened the morning we had free to go to the Sound.

The forest was full of snow and the snow became sold from Knobbs flat. The roads were no stopping for kilometers from the tunnel due to the avalanche risk. I filmed the same section of the trip but made the mistake of taking my sunglasses off to make filming easier. When we entered the tunnel, there were no traffic control because of the avalanche danger so you just drove straight in without stopping, we could not see a thing.:eyepop: I put the camera, still running, on my lap then said a very bad word when I realised there was a truck in the tunnel coming towards us. The tunnel is wide enough to pass in , thank goodness, and after a minute i picked up the camera again and realised that the low light system on the video camera could see clearly for much further then we could. The exit to The tunnel was surrounded with icicles and the snow on the way out was touching the bottom of the road signs. It was one on the most amazing things we had ever seen. Coming from Queensland we had never seen snow so this was one hell of an introduction.

Speaking to the people that worked at Milford we found out that some tourists had been trapped for the week the road was closed and had spent it in their camper van in the car park.

On the boat trip we had our answer to the question, could we stop in the avalanche zone to photograph. We saw about a half a dozen avalanches happen in the mountains from the boat.

The road was closed just after we got through the tunnel on the way out and no one was able to get in for several days after. Some days you just get lucky. :D

Thanks for the view in another season. We will have to go back and we shall see a whole other country.

Trip stats. 12 hours video, 4500 still photographs.