Today Milford received over 12cm of rain in 8 hours. There are far worse places to be in the world when it is raining that hard. Y’see… Milfords valleys have been carved out of the hard granite by glaciers.
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The rock that is left is well ‘ard. And not a lot grows in it or on it. So when it rains there’s not very much to actually soak the rain up – with the result that pretty much every surface turns into a waterfall. It was simply amazing. I’ve been to Milford twice – and it was far more spectacular in the downpour. Mind you, heading out in the boat in Force 10 winds was, perhaps, a little more excitement than I was reckoning on.
Stayed that night in a place called Gunns Camp which is midway between Te Anau and Milford. I’d definitely recommend it as a place to stay. The camp was created back when they were creating the Homer Tunnel. It has no electricity after 10pm, and none in the huts you stay in..
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.. what it does have – is a fire to heat the hot water for the showers.. and each hut has it’s own stove for central heating. The whole place has been gifted to a charitable trust – to be kept running for as long as it can. So much of NZ has been packaged up and sold off to richer foreigners – and it’s a real shame.
It also has a really great museum with all sorts of local clippings from old newspapers. And a lamb castrating device – just in case anyone wants to see what it looks like.
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