Sea Kayaking--Milford Sound

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I first arrived in Te Anau on the 5th of April and promptly took off for Milford Sound, driving up the Milford Rd....spectacular is all I can say. At one point you go through a tunnel, that is over 1KM long. It goes right through this vertical wall of rock. I really couldn't see any way up and over this wall at all, it is sheer.
In Milford I did a day's sea kayaking trip.... once again... spectacular.
I really can't describe in words what I saw. I hope my pictures do, we'll see.
Also it was rainy and cloudy my whole time in and around Milford.

Ok, back to Milford.... just spectacular. Though we couldn't see the tops of any of the mountains around because of clouds. The best part of the rain and clouds though is it kept all the planes grounded and there weren't many tourists on the tour boats.... so it was actually pretty peaceful being in the sound. Though that also meant, not much wildlife.

Other than sand flies... bastards!!!! and a couple of seals that swam along with us as we paddled... good stuff.

I spent Thursday night in Milford Sound. The plan/hope was that the weather would be as shit as forcast on Friday and that the Friday sea kayak trips would be cancelled. Then the sea kayak guides would whitewater boat. They had gone on Wednesday down the Arthur, said it was low and wanted to know why I hadn't shown up.

So Thursday night I hung out with Blake at the pub. It was funny, it didn't bother me when I was in Hokitika that there wasn't any water. Trying to explain kayaking to people that don't do it, just didn't get me excited. Sitting around the pub with Blake, talking about rivers and boats and even Open Boats (they don't have them here, except on flat water) really made me wish I had boated on Wednesday instead of canyoning... not really, but it gets you excited.
Oh yeah, and I got to here stories about the Homer Tunnel run, which I had just missed. Its a naked run at night through the Homer Tunnel and its an annual event. Damn, a day late and dollar short. Oh well, next year.

Unfortunately, while the Hollyford, Cleddau, and Arthur all had water, there was no one around to boat with. Eve had to lead a sea kayaking trip and Blake was driving a boat for the film crew. So I just hung out in the morning and watched the film crew get ready and set up for the comercial they were filming. It was a good time really.... watching the organized chaos. I think some of the people actually thought I was part of the crew at different times.
Anyway it was an Austrian beer comercial... Grotto I think, but not sure.

In the afternoon I went to the Underwater Observatory. I hadn't planned on doing this, because it really just sounded cheesey. But Blake, Eve, and Maria all raved about it, and said I should go... so I went. And it was cool!!!!

First a little science about the Fjords. Apparently Fiorland is one of only 3 or 4 places on earth that have this deep water emergence phenomena.
Milford is the number 1 or 2 wettest places on the earth. But there is no soil up in the mountains to soak up the rain water, so it comes running down the rock face, picking up tanins from the roots of the trees. What you get then is layering in the sound. The first several meters of water at the top is actually fresh and stained black from the tanins. Under that is clear saltwater. The fresh water blocks the light that would normally range down into the salt. The result is you get Black and Red coral growing at 8 meters, instead of their customary 40 meters. You also have an abundance of fish that are normally found much deeper. Including... brachiopods!!! A species of that is 600 million years old!!!!

How Cool is that!!!!!

Pictures

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