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Template:New Zealand State Highway infobox

The Milford Road is a state highway in the South Island of New Zealand, running through a section of Fiordland National Park from Te Anau Township, north to Milford Sound, passing through the Main Divide of the Southern Alps, the Eglinton Valley, Hollyford Valley, Homer Tunnel and Cleddau Valley

Driving the Milford Road

Tourists to Milford Sound arrive mainly via coach over the Milford Road State Highway 94, a high mountain road prone to avalanches in winter. The road was only opened in 1953, after Homer Tunnel was finished, after almost 20 years of intermittent work. The road is one of the more dangerous public roads in New Zealand, with injury crash rates around 65% higher than the rest of New Zealand's network, and a fatality crash rate of almost twice average (per vehicle kilometre travelled),[1] making it the third most dangerous section of New Zealand's State Highway network (as of 2008).[2] Stopping is prohibited on long stretches due to rock or snow avalanche dangers, and the road is often closed in winter, with the carrying of snow chains mandatory during snow conditions. Helicopters are used during winter to drop explosives onto snow buildup zones above the road in order to cause controlled avalanches. However this does not eliminate the danger that road traffic may be hit by an uncontrolled event, especially in the area of the Homer Tunnel portals.[1]

There are also no petrol stations on the whole length of the road from Te Anau to Milford Sound, meaning that vehicles need to take enough fuel for a return trip. All of this does not discourage up to 50 coaches and hundreds of private cars daily from making the 608 km trip from Queenstown (slightly less from Invercargill). Almost 60% travelled via coach.

Times and distances

The Mirror Lakes Viewpoint in the Eglinton Valley.

The journey from Te Anau to Milford Sound and back is 240 km (144 miles) long. A non-stop direct one-way drive takes at least two hours depending on weather conditions.

Scenic attractions

The Milford Road began in 1926 when John Chartres, a local Station Owner, started making his own road from Te Anau Downs Harbour south to the Te Anau Hotel, starting a project which turned into the most scenic highway in New Zealand including iconic landmarks the Mirror Lakes, the Avenue of Disappearing Mountain, Lake Gunn, the Key Summit, Mount Christina, Mount Talbot, the Homer Tunnel, The Chasm, Mount Tutoko, and New Zealand’s number one icon Mitre Peak. Before the sealing of the road in the 1980s it was treated as a day's adventure from the township of Te Anau and Milford Sound the climax of the journey. Modern marketing and faster buses have made Milford Sound a destination from Queenstown involving 8 hours of bus transit, a round trip with few stops. This route is part of the Te Wai Pounamu Wilderness Area.

Lord of the Rings connections

The Eglinton Mountains above Lake Gunn were used as a location in the Peter Jackson movie The Fellowship of the Ring where the actors walk along a mountain path with the Key Summit evident in the distance. The mountains here were also used in the Fellowship of the Ring introduction to represent the Misty Mountains. Emily Peak on the Routeburn Track can also be seen in this movie. Ironically, Peter Jackson picked an area that once contained New Zealand's only place names from J. R. R. Tolkien that were removed from the official maps in the 1980s, as they were deemed inappropriate for this region[3].

Literature on the Milford Road

Building the Milford Road has been a classic story of danger, hardship and Kiwi ingenuity in the Depression Years and has been the subject of several books: Harold Anderson’s 1975 Men of the Milford Road, a detailed account of the project from his perspective as a Public Works Department Paymaster;[4] Wilson Campbell’s 2000 Novel When stars were brightly shining about a fictional murder in one of the works camps;[5] John Hall-Jones’s, Milford Sound An Illustrated History of the Sound, the Track and the Road, which covers in detail the history of the road with ample historic photographs;[6] and Amy McDonalds 2005 Below the Mountains, a young girl's diary of living on the Milford Road 1935 to 1936.[7] And there are mountain climbing books that cover this area in detail, such as Jack Ede’s 1988 “Mountain Men of Milford”[8] and Anita Crozier’s 1950 Beyond the Southern Lakes.[9]

Mount Talbot from the Monkey Creek Bridge Lake Gunn viewpoint looking South West Kea can be seen from the Milford Road. Hanging Valley from the Homer Tunnel Portal
The Alpine Section of Highway 96 The view from the end of the Milford Road West of the Homer Tunnel Middle Fiord Lake Te Anau from Henry Creek Rest Area
the view South from Henry Creek the upper Boyd Creek Waterfall off Highway 96 Henry Creek Beach Lake Te Anau Looking North

References

  1. ^ a b Strategy Study Summary Report - State Highway 94 Te Anau to Milford Sound (PDF) - Transit New Zealand, September 2001
  2. ^ Country's deadliest roads identified - NZPA via Newstalk ZB, Sunday 27 January 2008
  3. ^ Steve Rendle,The Dominion Post, November 22nd 2002 page A3
  4. ^ ISBN 0 908629 27 3
  5. ^ ISBN 0 473 07036 7
  6. ^ ISBN 0 908629 54 0
  7. ^ ISBN 1 86943 663 6
  8. ^ 0 473 00682 0
  9. ^ ISBN 0 589 00893 5

Further reading

  • Ian Brodie. (2003) The Lord of the Rings Location Guidebook, Harper Collins, ISBN 1-86950-491-7, 126 pages
  • John Hall Jones. (2000) Milford Sound, Illustrated History, Harper Collins, ISBN 0-908629-54-0, 144 pages
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