Queenstown · Crown Range and Milford Approach
Alpine lake roads and a weather-aware overnight plan.
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Why this ride
Alpine lake roads and a weather-aware overnight plan. Out of Arrowtown and back again: 356 km, roughly 6 h 51 in the saddle. It goes by way of Wanaka lake stop, Milford Road high section and Te Anau overnight. Crown Range Road is the high point. It tops out at about 1,150 m. The passes are the reason to go.
Roadbook
- Crown Range Road
pass
The Crown Range Road is the highest sealed public road in New Zealand, topping out at about a thousand and seventy-six metres, and it connects Queenstown with Wānaka by a route that is as beautiful as it is steep. On one side, the land falls away toward the Wakatipu basin, with the jagged line of the Remarkables across the valley. On the other, the Cardrona valley opens, golden and broad, leading toward Wānaka.
The Cardrona Hotel, built in 1863 during the gold rush, still stands at the foot of the descent, with a long veranda, a garden and a reputation for good food, and it is a favourite stop for riders and skiers. The valley once held a town of thousands, and the remains of the gold workings can be seen along the roadside. In winter, the ski fields of Cardrona and Treble Cone draw crowds, and the road carries a stream of cars with skis on the roof.
The ride is excellent. From Arrowtown, the road climbs in a series of tight zigzags known as the Zig Zag, with views over the town and the valley, and then crosses the high plateau before descending to Cardrona. The surface is good, but the road is narrow, with steep drop-offs and few barriers, and snow and ice make it dangerous in winter, when chains are required. In summer, the days are warm and clear, and the air is dry. Take care on the hairpins, where the road may be shaded and damp.
Fuel is available at Arrowtown, Queenstown and Wānaka, but not on the road, so fill up before you go. The hotel at Cardrona offers food and drink, and a stop there is part of the experience. Check weather and road conditions before setting out, since the pass can close in snow. Carry warm clothing, even in summer, and watch for cyclists on the climb.
- Wanaka lake stop
swim
Wanaka sits at the southern end of its lake, with mountains stepping away to the north in long blue ranks, and the water itself is the colour of a glacier-ground gemstone. The lake is New Zealand's fourth largest and was carved by an ice tongue that once pushed down from the Southern Alps, leaving behind a deep basin and the smooth hills you ride through to get here. The town is a modest four thousand people, but it feels bigger in summer, when walkers, skiers and holidaymakers fill it, and it works neatly as a place to fill the tank, eat well and look out at the water.
The famous bit of shoreline is a lone willow growing out of the lake just by the waterfront, which has become the most photographed tree in the country. It is pretty, but it is easy to be cheeky about it, because the real beauty is everywhere else. The Clutha River, the country's largest by volume, begins right here at the lake's outlet and runs out south and east in a cold, fast, blue-green flow. Behind the town, Mount Iron and Roys Peak offer walks with views, and to the north the Matukituki valley leads towards the heart of Mount Aspiring National Park.
The riding to Wanaka is among the best in the South Island. From Queenstown you can climb the Crown Range, a high, windy road with hairpins on the Queenstown side and long, open curves after the summit, or take the Cromwell route along the Kawarau gorge. Both are lovely, and both reward a start before the tour buses. The weather is changeable: cold mornings, hot afternoons, and a wind that can turn on you.
Fuel is easy in town, and there are bakeries, pubs and cafes along the waterfront and the streets behind it. The swimming here is for the brave, since the lake is cold all year, though on a hot January afternoon nothing beats it. In winter the Crown Range can have ice and snow, and chains can be required, so check the road report before you set out.
- Milford Road high section
photo
The Milford Road does not so much climb as march into a wall. Past the beech forest of the Eglinton Valley and the long flat tussock of the Hollyford headwaters, the Darran Mountains rise in grey granite slabs on every side, and at the top of it all sits the Homer Tunnel, a rough, unlit hole in the rock that was a work-relief project for decades before it finally opened in 1953. It is just over a kilometre long and drops steeply toward the western end, and riding through it is a small adventure: cold, wet, loud, and more atmospheric than any modern tunnel has a right to be. The high section where the road approaches it is among the most dramatic stretches of tarmac in the country.
Everything here is about scale. Waterfalls hang off cliffs after rain, hundreds of metres of them, and in the right weather the whole valley is white with cascades. Kea, the cheeky alpine parrots, loiter around the tunnel entrance waiting for tourists, and they will happily unpick a seat or a bag strap if you leave your bike alone, so watch your kit. The Cleddau valley beyond the tunnel falls away in a series of hairpin bends, steep and tightening, down to the beech forest and eventually to Milford Sound itself.
This is not a road for hurry. In winter and spring it is closed regularly by avalanche control, and chains can be mandatory when snow is on the road, so check the local road status before you leave Te Anau. Summer brings tour buses and campervans, and the road is narrow in places. The best hours are early in the morning, when the light is low and the traffic has not yet arrived, or on the way back in the late afternoon.
Bring layers whatever the forecast says, since weather in the Fiordland mountains changes in minutes. And bring insect repellent for the sandflies at the bottom, which will take a tax on every bit of exposed skin when you stop.
- Te Anau overnight
sleep
Te Anau is a small town with a large job. It sits on the shore of the lake of the same name, the biggest in the South Island, and serves as the gateway to Fiordland National Park, one of the wildest places in New Zealand. About two thousand people live here year-round, many of them working in the tourism that comes through, and in summer the main street is full of campervans and people with boots and cameras.
What lies beyond is extraordinary. Fiordland is a mountainous rainforest country of glacier-carved valleys and sea inlets, shaped by some of the heaviest rainfall in the country. Milford Sound, at the end of the 119-kilometre road from Te Anau, receives so much rain that waterfalls appear by the dozen after a downpour. The Milford Road itself passes through the Eglinton Valley, with its wide flat floor and beech forest, then the Mirror Lakes, where the peaks reflect on calm water, and finally the Homer Tunnel, a rough-hewn tunnel about 1.2 kilometres long that was completed in 1953 after decades of work, with a steep descent to the sound on the other side.
The riding is superb but needs care. The road is mostly well surfaced, with gentle bends in the valley and tighter ones near the tunnel, and in wet weather it can be slippery. Avalanches close the road in winter and spring, and snow chains may be required. Rain can arrive suddenly, and you should expect to be wet at some point. Sandflies swarm at every stop, so carry repellent.
In town you can find a bed, a meal and a bakery. Fuel is essential here, since services beyond Te Anau are almost non-existent, so fill up before you set out for Milford and back. The Te Anau Wildlife Centre keeps takahē, a large flightless bird once thought extinct and found again in the Fiordland mountains in 1948, and it is a good rainy-day stop. Boat trips to the glowworm caves on the far side of the lake are popular.
Spend the evening on the lakeshore with the light fading on the Murchison Mountains. Rise early the next day for Milford, before the coaches arrive.
- Back to Crown Range Road
finish
Back at Crown Range Road. That is the ride.