Beautiful Milford Sound
Trip Start
Aug 11, 2005
1
81
149
Trip End
May 22, 2006
Milford Sound,
New Zealand
Sunday, February 5, 2006
Well, the mountain air finally infiltrated our room and within an hour, I had put on my fleece. Another hour later, I hauled my sleep sheet and cold body down to Gerald's bunk. He, too, was chilly. We spooned for warmth and finally fell into a warm sleep.
Making it through the night, we had booked a morning cruise around Milford Sound. Despite our hostel's shuttle van arriving extremely late, we made it to the wharf with one minute to spare. Good thing since we'd prepaid for this Milford Sound cruise. Knowing that loads of tour busses arrive around 10am, we booked this 9am cruise. Our boat was only about ¼ full. This gave all of us plenty of space to take plenty of pictures.
Milford Sound is actually a fjord. What is a fjord? Well, according to our captain who provided a fantastic narrative for the entire cruise, a fjord is a deep lake in a valley caused from glacial activity whereas a sound is a deep lake caused from river valleys. A little too technical for an early morning. Tall wooded mountains plunged into the ocean in front of towering, granite topped mountains,.
We first headed towards Mitre Peak, the most photographed mountain in Milford Sound. We continued on along the southern shore past a rock where a herd of sea lions were lazing on the rocks and playing in the water. When a couple of dolphins tried to join in the fun, the sea lions sped away and tried to climb up on the rocks. Quite satisfied with their influence, the dolphins swam away. Later, the reappeared along the bow of our boat enjoying the free ride from the "headwave" the boat created.
01-Dolphins
It was really cool leaning over the bow watching them. My camera was securely around my neck, but I was floored to see people hanging their arms down and over the edge gripping video and digital cameras. Risky.We continued on towards the open sea. Once again, the body of ocean is being referred to as the Southern Ocean. Despite it being a "calm" day, the boat began to rock and roll. Most of us remained on the bow enjoying the crisp ocean air on our faces, but when the crisp ocean water doused a few people, everyone headed indoors. Gerald only got a bit wet, so he toughed it out. Fearing another wave, I wimped out and stayed indoors for a bit. We felt like we were back on Rosie, Dive Bermuda's small dive boat.
We then turned back into the sound to follow the northern shoreline. The captain explained that many varieties of coral and other ocean animals are able to live in the relatively shallow walls and floor of the sound. This is due to the thick layer of freshwater that lays on top of the seawater. Today, the freshwater layer was only a couple of feet deep (low rainfall), but at times it can be up to three metres deep. The freshwater darkens the sea below which provides the low lit environment required for these organisms that are usually in much deeper water. Neat, eh? A few guys have started an underwater aquarium for visitors. Essentially, five years ago, they built this structure in the ocean to create an artificial reef. The most ingenious part of it is that they can lower the structure to coincide with low freshwater films.
02-Out to Sea
So sharp!As they'd not received rain in twelve days, we were lucky to see a nice waterfall up close and one from a distance. Normally, there would be a multitude of waterfalls to enjoy. Our very skilled captain drew the boat so close to the waterfall that we couldn't hear each other speak. The mist was so strong that it created a wind, pushing the mist onto us and the boat. I was really wishing that I had Lynn and Chris' water resistant digital to allow us to take some really cool waterfall shots. As it is, we ended up with some mist on the camera.
While returning to the dock, we had a picture postcard shot of Mitre Peak. We were so thankful that the sun shone brightly throughout the cruise, creating a beautiful blue ocean and backdrop to the majestic scenery.
We walked the couple of km's back to the hostel and had some lunch. We then ventured out for a couple of short hikes to fill our afternoon. We drove back along the highway up through the Homer Tunnel to a short alpine nature walk complete with an information cards explaining the qualities of the hearty alpine flowers and shrubs. This was in a bowl shaped valley, with a beautiful glacier-capped mountain in the background. After stopping at various spots to appreciate some magnificent views, we stopped at The Chasm for a short walk up the chasm to the water falls. The force of the water was amazing, but the size of the boulders that have been transported there were even more impressive. We made a quick stop at a historic suspension bridge that was quite tiny.
03-The Point
We just stood on it and gazed into the clear turquoise water of the shallow river.Our last stop was back near the wharf. We planned to follow the short boardwalk that hugged the edges of the shores. Just as we were about to get going, we bumped into Linda and Lisa. This mother-daughter travelling team have been following us. Really, they are. We have stayed at the same hostel a couple of times now. They are both really quite charming and a lot of fun to talk to. We stopped to chat and giggle with them for a while until they had to get going back to Te Anau. We will see them tomorrow night there. As a matter of fact, we will be seeing them quite a few times throughout our travels in NZ. Pretty neat.
Instead of continuing down the boardwalk, we decided to plunk down on a large "driftwood" tree along the shore to have a little fruit snack. Planes were arriving and departing overhead, boats were cruising around the sound, people were walking around and yet, it still seemed quite peaceful. I do believe that there is something mystical about this place as other people have told us.
Laundry, preparing supper, calling ahead to make bookings, and checking emails occupied our time. While washing our dishes, Gerald glanced out of the window and saw Sophie. She and Gerald used to work together in Bermuda. Okay, so we knew she was in NZ, and we knew she was on the south island, but we'd been meaning to call her or email her to find out exactly where her and her husband, Steve were planning to be.
04-Good Morning
I guess we saved that quarter! Still, quite happenchance.Well, the rest of the night, we caught up on each others travels. We compared notes about some countries we'd all visited and shared our stories. We also talked quite a bit about Bermuda. We could hardly believe it when it was 10:45pm. We'd been sitting there chatting for over three hours. With only a few minutes of electricity left, we said goodnight, leaving the goodbyes for breakfast.
Gerald and I looked forward to a better sleep, not so crowded and a lot warmer. We rented blankets and flat sheets from reception for NZ$1.60 per person. So, instead of the lodge paying to run a generator, they were making money off of the blankets and sheets! We were quite happy to pay so little money for warmth. Most hostels don't allow sleeping bags, so it certainly doesn't pay for us to go out and buy a couple.
February 5 - Heading back to Te Anau
Unfortunately, we just missed Sophie and Steve by just a couple of minutes, but maybe we'll end up bumping into them again somewhere. After breakie, we headed back towards Te Anau to take in some of the walks and viewpoints of this magnificent area, The Fjordlands.
Our first walk was only about a half hour return. The path wound its way up through the forest until it ended on the edge of a deep valley. Across the way, the spectacular Humboldt Falls were streaming down the side of the cliff. I'm not that great at estimating distances, but I'm guessing the waterfall was at least 50m tall.
05-Seals Caught
It was so peaceful as we met only two other hikers on this trail.A little further down the road, we followed another short path. The thirty minute walk followed along the crystal clear turquoise river and again ending abruptly in a pretty waterfall. It wasn't even a quarter of the height of the first one, but it was quite wide and tumbled down the rocks with quite a bit of force.
A few more kilometres further towards Te Anau brought us to our picnic spot for lunch. This was a lookout from high above overlooking the river that we had just been driving along. It offered spectacular views of the many mountains and valleys. The haze of cloud near the summits added a mystical effect.
Our last stop was at Mirror Lakes. Due to low rainfall, the lakes are a bit smaller than usual. Luckily, we arrived when there was no breeze. The mountains across the valley were visible as reflections on the lake. By the time we made it to the end of the five minute boardwalk, a tiny breath of a breeze began to creep into the valley. It created the tiniest of ripples in the water and erased the reflection. What luck to have seen the famed reflection and to have the pic to prove it.
We didn't make any other stops for the rest of the journey back to Te Anau, but that certainly doesn't mean that it was boring in any way. The road dipped, climbed, wound, and flipped back on itself through the mountains until BOOM we were in the foothills, in relatively wide open spaces. The change was so abrupt that we felt like we'd driven off of a movie set.
Well, that was Milford Sound. A short but very beautiful trip. Truly, this area deserves at least a week to be even partially appreciated. It gave us a taste. We're pretty sure that we'll come back some day to explore it in much greater detail.
