Freezing at Milford Sounds
Trip Start
Jul 16, 2007
1
115
139
Trip End
Jul 15, 2008
Milford Sound,
South Island,
New Zealand
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Quick look at Caroline and Julia. Am i hearing things and really gone crazy or can they hear it to??? Great, we've got a weird bus driver whispering into the mic. Luckily he turns out to be weird funny as we have a long day on the bus today as we head to the infamous Milford Sounds.
Millie
Its meant to be a stunning journey through a national park bigger than wales. Its a strict must not miss. But we have the most terrible weather imaginable! There is so much cloud we can barely see a thing. We head to Te Anau first, past the lake and then head into the national park. The further we go the more mist and drizzle appears. We stop at some mirror lakes on the way. There's a flat way where the glacier forged through the mountains. Then the mountains get higher as we head through the thick bushland and forestry overshadowed by looming grey mountains with snow and cloud coverings.
The tunnel
We then head through a long tunnel build by 4 men over 17 years and never reinforced...Only 2 of the men survived to the end due to avalanches etc. We have a couple of stops, one to see about avalanches and accident prevention, another a walk to see some of the rock formations and then on to the sounds, the flats before the main sea. Basically the boat navigates the little islands where the cliff faces have lots of waterfalls.
Waterfall at teh sounds
Its probably stunning when clear. However we can barely see a thing through the clouds and mist and have to make do with the odd glimpse when the sun managed to break through once!
Quick shower
On the plus side, we had a huge buffet to keep us occupied whilst waiting for the sun to break through! On the way back we are taken to an underwater observatory which was interesting before returning to our random bus driver 'Diesel'. We did think he had gone without us as there is no sign back at the port - he was trying to fix a tyre - unsuccessfully! 'We'll get back OK anyway' he confidently says! Now time for the long trek back to Queenstown. I did try and stay awake to appreciate what we could see while still light - it was a struggle. Then there was an end to his bizarre chat and terrible Michael Jackson jokes when he put on a DVD of what the Sounds should have looked like in good weather - just to rub salt into the wounds!
Wet Milford sounds
We roll into Queenstown around 8pm, in time to go out for Julia and my last night in Queenstown. The Kiwi bus behind had got in too so Ed and that lot as well as the bus ahead are all in town, so a bit of a reunion of the north island.
