Milford Sound may be the place that we've been told to go to the most (especially by some of the travellers we met in Fiji). We stopped in to Te Anau and visited the Satake's (who were helping at a summer camp on the lake) and then we headed for the Westcoast. Brian had warned us about the tunnel that he described as being "New Zealand sketchy" and said it looked like it had been hallowed out with spoons (like the tunnel at tunnel beach) and was quite long.
Despite these very accurate warnings, we were still shocked. Never in our lives have we had a driving experience quite like that. Picture a towering mountain- the landscape kind of like the Hope side of the Coquihalla- you climb up to that mountain and see a hobbit hole in the side of it. There is not a light leading you into it (nor any inside for that matter). There are no line markers. Just a pitch black, jagged tunnel with water dripping down from above and no sign of the other end of the tunnel. You could be driving towards the center of the earth for all you know.
Luckily I video taped it.
When we arrived at the tunnel, it was late in the evening and we had ascended up through a cloud. Everything was eerily still and we had no clue what to do. There was one sign off to the side that said "traffic control lights 9am-6pm." It looked rather one-way, but there wasn't a soul around. Not a car to lead us through. I had this feeling that there would be a giant semi truck coming straight at us once we were inside.
But when you're travelling, you have to suck it up. If it's good enough for a kiwi, it's good enough for me.
This (the video tape) was the tunnel on the way back (so we had done it once before).
I believe I recall my initial reaction being dramatic breathing and a lot of "ewww" and Scotty's being "whoa, this is crazy" and a lot of laughing.
On our way back to the entrance of the tunnel, there were two huge giant Kea's sitting on the road (New Zealand's Parrot)- just to complete the dreamlike (leaning towards nightmarish) feeling of that night.
Despite these very accurate warnings, we were still shocked. Never in our lives have we had a driving experience quite like that. Picture a towering mountain- the landscape kind of like the Hope side of the Coquihalla- you climb up to that mountain and see a hobbit hole in the side of it. There is not a light leading you into it (nor any inside for that matter). There are no line markers. Just a pitch black, jagged tunnel with water dripping down from above and no sign of the other end of the tunnel. You could be driving towards the center of the earth for all you know.
Luckily I video taped it.
When we arrived at the tunnel, it was late in the evening and we had ascended up through a cloud. Everything was eerily still and we had no clue what to do. There was one sign off to the side that said "traffic control lights 9am-6pm." It looked rather one-way, but there wasn't a soul around. Not a car to lead us through. I had this feeling that there would be a giant semi truck coming straight at us once we were inside.
But when you're travelling, you have to suck it up. If it's good enough for a kiwi, it's good enough for me.
This (the video tape) was the tunnel on the way back (so we had done it once before).
I believe I recall my initial reaction being dramatic breathing and a lot of "ewww" and Scotty's being "whoa, this is crazy" and a lot of laughing.
On our way back to the entrance of the tunnel, there were two huge giant Kea's sitting on the road (New Zealand's Parrot)- just to complete the dreamlike (leaning towards nightmarish) feeling of that night.
It says "This video is private" and I can't log in! Any suggestions? Love, Dad
ReplyDeleteoops! sorry about that! I believe I changed it to public now. Let me know if there are any problems!
DeleteThis tunnel is absolutely something from a nightmare! Not seeing the light at the end is terrifying! You are very very brave!
ReplyDelete