Homer's Oddity

You should see Homer’s Tunnel! It just gouges its way through a solid mountain of granite and lucky for us that it does. Without it Milford Sound would still be an idyllic gem of nature that few would see, unless of course, they could be bothered to come around the coast by boat or joined the mailman on his previous trek over the mountain every three weeks.  For it lies on the other side of the Southern Alps and the road from Te Anau wends its way through the valleys and mountain passes until it reaches a wall of solid rock, 2km thick.

Way back when Homer suggested a tunnel but no one took him up on the idea - looking at the challenge, understandably so. That is until the depression when cheap and expendable labour was put to the task. They toiled away for 19 years with just a pause during World War Two.

The going was tough, as they faced harsh winters with frequent avalanches, plus the granite rock took 100kg of dynamite to move the face just 25cm forward. That’s 800 tonnes of dynamite - I worked it out, I’m nerdy that way.

The entrance to Homer's Tunnel

The rock was so dense that they only made it a single lane – well, wide enough for a bus and a half - and didn’t even need to line it, as the rock stayed put by itself. Eventually they broke through and found themselves perched 500 meters up the rock face. So they built a switch-back road all the way down to the valley floor and on to the edge of the fiord that is Milford Sound.

This all means that the trip here is wonderfully picturesque and comfortable, for which we have to thank those intrepid original tunnelers.

That's it going into the mountain

And that's it coming out, on the Milford Sound side