Into Mordor (errr... Milford Sound)

  Milford Sound, South Island, New Zealand
Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Today I got up at the crack of dawn and got on a private charter bus to Milford Sound.  As it turned out, the two German guys from my room, Mark and Jorg, also went.  Jorg doesn't really speak much, and Mark speaks English pretty well, but isn't too interesting to talk to, so I kind of avoid sitting near them when at all possible.  Milford Sound is considered one of the great natural wonders of the world.  Although not really a sound, but rather a fiord (as our guide informed us numerous times), Milford Sound is located in Fiordland National Park on the far southwest edge of New Zealand.  The next thing south of here is Antarctica, and it is very nearly the southernmost point of land in the world other than Antarctica.  Despite this, it is generally pretty warm in this area.

Large Waterfalls

 
The good thing about Milford Sound is it is incredibly beautiful- maybe the most amazing place I've ever been.  It appears on pretty much every post card you see of New Zealand. The bad thing(s) is it is very remotely located and thus to get there is an all day affair.  My bus ride there was about 5 hours, although it was maybe the most amazing scenery from a bus I've ever seen. The drive first takes you around this perfectly blue lake for about 45 minutes, then through the Remarkables mountain range (featured prominently in LOTR) and then into Te Anau, which is a town that basically exists to service Milford Sound.  Once you leave Te Anau, you get into the fiordland national park, which can best be described as a rain forest on mountains which is pretty warm, although you can see snow on some of the mountain peaks.  Unfortunately, this is one of the rainiest places on earth and it poured the entire ride and on my cruise of the sound.  Fortunately, this rain causes literally thousands of waterfalls to appear on the mountainsides coming into Milford Sound, which is probably the most incredible thing I've ever seen.

Tons of falls

I have a lot of pictures of this from the bus but it isn't really easy to tell just how cool this is from those.  After going through a tunnel they blasted in the mountain, you descend through this valley where all of these waterfalls are coming down around you.  When it stops raining, apparently most or all of these waterfalls disappear within minutes.  

Massive Waterfall

After finally getting to the Sound itself (or fiord, as my guides tell me), I hopped on a two hour cruise around the sound.  The rain really sucked, and it was incredibly windy, but this was truly a remarkable site to see (no pun intended on the Remarkables mountain range).

Me with a bunch of falls

After the cruise, I hopped back on the bus and got back to Queenstown around 7:30.  Because my flight the next day was at 6:45 and because the Stray bus was full, I had to book a charter bus back to Christchurch the next day. I stopped at a pub for bite and a beer and talked to an Irish and a Kiwi bartender for a while and picked up a couple of souvenirs.  Also, I left my fleece at the pub and didn't remember until the next day on the bus, so goodbye to my beloved red and gray North Face fleece, which is pretty much ubiquitous on my body during the fall and spring.  You will be missed. 

Tons of waterfalls