Summer on the Milford Road

By Alistair Child.

I am sure some drivers get quite annoyed with the driver (me) stopping suddenly on the Milford Road and muttering things like stupid tourist, what is this nutter doing,or mouthing ‘something’ impolite as they manoeuvre past me. After all they drove into Milford  in 90 minutes and 36 seconds and they are going to drive back in 80 minutes by hook or by crook. “Well we’ve seen everything, haven’t we”?   

Well I apologise to them all, I am sorry, but it is all for a good cause, and that is this website. When you see a good photo subject you have just got to stop, so I do.

I am looking at the Fiordland bush and alpine areas from a fresh and summer point of view. The sun is very high in the sky and the light looks different. The lowland bush and forest is just so green and busy with lots of moss growing and things just seem so much more dense. But it’s the flowers, flowers everywhere. It seems every other tree or bush has  flowers blooming on them.
 
But the real flower show is in the alpine areas on the eastern and western sides of the Homer Tunnel. These plants are exposed to the most intense weather situations that New Zealand has to offer, from intense heat to sub zero temperatures and winds that would blow your house away. Yet with all this, these most delicate of plants live, blossom, and flourish.

Something I have always said, the Milford experience starts and ends at Te Anau. It can be breathtaking to just stop, walk away from the car and road, sit on a log or rock  and just simply take it all in. It will do your mind and your heart a whole lot of good.

By the way, if I have named any plant the incorrect name or you know the name of a plant I haven’t named, feel free to tell me. Not just on this page but any page I would love to hear from you.        






Kanuka Tree (Tea Tree) in blossom



Tree Moss



Alpine Daisies



Celmisia verbascifolia



Bulbinella gibbsii



Hebe ver. humilis



Name unknown



On the side of the road.



Mountian Ribbon wood. hoheria



Hebe