On Day 14 we travelled to Milford Sound with Ron Peacock a National Park Ranger. It started to rain as we left Te Aneau and steadily got worse. As we headed towards the Homer Tunnel we saw waterfalls appearing over what is normally just bare rock. Then as the rain got heavier and the surrounding rock-faces got steeper the waterfalls multiplied into an almost continuous curtain.
As Wikipedia informs us, the tunnel pierces the main divide of the Homer Saddle connecting the valley of the Eglinton and Hollyford Rivers to the east with that of the Cleddau to the west. The tunnel is straight, and was originally single-lane and gravel-surfaced. The tunnel walls remain unlined granite. The east portal end is at 945m elevation; the tunnel runs 1270m at approximately a 1:10 gradient down to the western portal. Construction of the tunnel began in 1935 but it wasn't completed and opened until 1954.
Here is the Eastern portal after we had passed through it on our return journey. Yes there it is down in the bottom right of the photograph. At the bottom of the mountainside are piles of dirty snow.
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What an interesting post and photos, Gerald! Great ones for the H day! Sounds like a great trip! Have a wonderful week!
ReplyDeleteSylvia
Those falls are so pretty! I love waterfalls, and these are really cool. Great photos!
ReplyDeletePositively gorgeous. Took my breath away. So very, very pretty. Wow.
ReplyDeleteHow spectacular!
ReplyDeleteWater is such an interesting subject for photography.
ReplyDeleteWow! What a wonderful series of pictures!
ReplyDeleteThe day we drove through the Homer tunnel was dry ; fortunate for our Mildford Sound boat trip , but unfortunate because of the spectacular waterfalls we did not see. Spectacular views!
ReplyDeleteWhat a fascinating tunnel, and an interesting post.
ReplyDeleteOn behalf of the ABC Wednesday Team, Thanks for joining us this week. Hope to see you back next week too!
Troy
Wonderful waterfalls. We never got as far as Milford Sound when we were down there. It would have added just too many days. But we loved our visit anyway.
ReplyDeleteActually, I'm just as impressed with the fact that you have these older photos cataloged and available as with the pictures themselves!
ReplyDeleteAnd, wow, it can rain in New Zealand, can't it? Still beautiful, even with all that water.
ReplyDeleteAn amazing sight! That top picture in particular seems to capture the water cascading down so well.
ReplyDeleteNothing prettier than cascading water like this. Wow! What a nice trip this is.
ReplyDeleteLoooved the first photo, so impressing!
ReplyDeleteKisses from Nydia.
I love the first photo, water makes me so happy.
ReplyDeleteHappy Thursday!
hugs
shakira
HOPE FOR GREAT LAKES NOW!
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