Fiordlands: God's Masterpiece

As long as I can remember, my father has raved about the Fiordlands of New Zealand. Mitre Peak this. Mitre Peak that. I heard him talk about this Mitre Peak (though he always said Mitre Rock) so many times, I explicitly searched out what the hell he was talking about in my New Zealand Lonely Planet.

Mitre Peak is probably the most famous sight in all of New Zealand. If a post card is sent from the country, chances are it's of Mitre Peak. Since my dad is so big on it and since everyone else seemed to agree, I had no choice but to seek out this mountain.

I got to the start of the 100km road to Mitre Peak in the Milford Sound and it was closed due to two deadly car accidents, the first deaths on the road in years. The gateway community of Te Anau was covered in a thick sheet of fog, so driving around and admiring the views was not an option. Instead, I decided to hike the world famous Kepler Track. No, I didn't do the whole 60km. I figured that I should instead continue my trend of only hiking portions of the world's greatest hikes. The three hours I dedicated were through forest, so I didn't lose any beauty from the fog. I was planning of hiking further, climbing the small mountain near Te Anau, but my legs were unforgiving after the previous day's climb. Signs on the trail suggested that the area was kiwi infested, so I kept my eyes peeled. Alas, I failed at seeing one of these nocturnal birds.

I awoke the next morning to more thick fog, the opposite of the weather I needed to see a famous mountain. The road was thankfully open. After ten minutes of driving, I was out of the fog and beneath clear blue skies.

The drive to Milford Sound is incredible! Accidents happen daily on the 100km stretch of highway. The Department of Conservation blames black ice; I disagree. The scenery makes it very hard to pay attention to the actual driving. Thankfully, there are plenty of places to stop and go for various walks of view amazing lookouts. This is the greatest mountain scenery I've ever seen. Driving amongst this beauty left me feeling like I just finished a first kiss with a girl I fancy. The views literally put adrenaline in my blood.

The drive climaxed at the end of the line where it reached Milford Sound and the damn Mitre Peak. The post cards are a horrible representation of the mountain's magic and many find the post cards to be amazing. Mitre Peak begs to be stared upon. It causes continuous twitching of the shutter finger (I think I took around 20 photos). The Maori believe that god took up sculpture in the Fiordlands and perfected the art when he made Milford Sound. It is truly god's masterpiece. Now my kids will have to suffer the same fate as I: having a father who just won't shut up about some Mitre Rock.