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Published: January 29th 2008
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January 2, we headed back to the Milford Sound in order to catch an overnight excursion boat. This time we drove our good times Chevy…er…Toyota van. We have found that there is no need to participate in the various extreme activities that are abundant in NZ, we simply drive - which is scary enough. It is hard for the driver to do much sight seeing because of the frequent complex S-turns. I always know when Sarah is trying to sneak a peak as she tends to drift left and I get a better look down some deep crevice. I sometimes wonder if a parachute would help. I, on the other hand, tend to drift into opposite lane of oncoming traffic. Either way, I “get it” first.
We boarded the Milford Wanderer in the late afternoon with about 60 other people. We basically covered the same territory as we did previously on the dive boat, but at a slower pace and for a different purpose. The itinerary was tightly organized and did not allow for much creative thinking amongst the passengers. We went out to the mouth of the sound, where we stopped for kayaking (Ben and I) and speed boating (Sarah
Milford Sound
Heading out of Milford Sound and Grace). We soon got bored with the history of human occupation and natural history lectures on the water. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Ben trying to surf his kayak on the smallish swell. What to do? Hmm. I followed him. We were soon warned not to get too close to the shore. It is tough being a rebel (Ben) and a rebel want-to-be (me). The swells got a little bigger at the end of the excursion, so we tried again. We chatted with the guide. He told us that even in these calm conditions, some people managed to fall out of their boats. Almost at that moment someone did. That gentleman decided to swim his kayak in. Having experienced the water temperature previously in a full wet suit, I didn’t think that was a great idea. He did OK, but I noticed that it seemed to take him awhile to warm up once on the mother ship. Back on board, we readied ourselves for the evening meal. We hoped and prayed that it was not going to be lamb. Not only was it lamb, but it was lamb shanks. I would rather have sea urchin
again. Lamb shanks are to Kiwis, what fried chicken and catfish is to a Southerner. But remember, we are not really Kiwis, just pretending. Sarah and Grace told the chef that they were vegetarians. I got the evil eye when I returned our plates of incompletely gnawed leg bones. How was I to know that the crew splits the undistributed food amongst themselves? How would I know if I liked it, if I did not try it? I have learned that there is a big difference between mutton and lamb, and that not all lamb is created equal. (Sarah - Grace and I called it right. We got a nice plate of salad and some kind of mixed veg quiche. Thanks again to all who sent us chocolate for Christmas!)
After dinner the ship’s board games were made available to the passengers upon first availability. We confiscated the Connect Four game, rated for ages 6 and up. I think the age limit was based mainly on the risk of putting any of the pieces in our mouths and swallowing them. I will not explain the game, but we were soon surrounded by a crowd that noticed the heated play
Milford Wanderer
View from our cabin of the participants. I reluctantly found myself playing a Japanese woman. I do not remember her name, but I now call her Champ. The family was defeated by all Asians that challenged. They were gracious winners, all.
We had a cabin equipped with a pair of bunk beds to ourselves, separated from a common space by a curtain. Our cabin had a port hole - true luxury. It rained all night and most of the morning. This was most fortunate as the Sound takes on a much different appearance after a substantial rainfall. The scale of the sound is difficult to comprehend or take a picture of. It is completely surrounded by mountains and shear faced cliffs 1500 - 2000 ft. in height. Thousands of waterfalls drop from those heights and seem to be evenly spaced all around us. After the rainfall there were easily three to four times as many waterfalls as the day before. Naturally, the volume of flow through the waterfalls increased as well. As the ship rounded different points, we were greeted with thousands of more waterfalls. As mentioned, the scale was deceiving and at times seemed compressed without a reference point. Off in the
distance a 150 ft. boat would look like a speck in relation to the cliffs and falls. I noticed that the captain, a six year veteran of this service, and other Kiwi crew also seemed awe inspired. On this morning we were visited by a pod of dolphins. They put on a nice aerial show at no extra charge.
Sarah - On the way back to the dock, we stopped off at the Milford Deep Underwater Observatory. This observatory is located about 35 feet below the surface and allows you to experience a phenomenon called Deep Water Emergence. Because of the runoff of fresh water from the mountains into the fiord, a dark layer of water exists on the top. Because of this layer and the narrow shape of the fiord, a similar environment to the deep ocean is created. It is the only place in the world where this can be viewed. And, unlike most marine observatories, it is not an aquarium. We were reminded several times that WE were the ones contained, not the fish. Just when I think Grace is completely bored out of her mind, she pipes up with some great observations about things. She
was really interested in seeing what we had missed on the dive and took most of the pictures here.
After we docked, we headed over to the picnic area to grab some lunch. Luckily, I had stocked our cooler with lunch meat so we did not have to get back to civilization to eat. Grace and I agreed that it was one of the best sandwiches we had ever had, as breakfast on the boat was no better than the previous night’s dinner. After lunch, we started out on our long trip up to Queenstown. As usual, we were trying to make good time and keep to the road. However, after the previous night’s rain, it was impossible not to stop and admire the thousands (and I do mean that literally) of waterfalls all around us. We have tried to capture them in pictures but it is near impossible to replicate the scale.
And just when we thought we had experienced one of the most peculiar spots on earth…we stopped again. Just outside the Homer Tunnel, there is a carpark and a short walk to observe an ice carved amphitheatre (you have to wait your turn for the
Dinner on the Wanderer
The reason Grace and I became vegetarians! one lane tunnel anyway, so you might as well get out). So here you are, looking over the icy terrain, and there, underneath your feet are buttercups and daisys and fern. And if that is not enough, there is a parrot in the parking lot eating luggage. (We were warned about this bird, known as a kea, and were told to keep an eye on our windshield wipers. They actually have monitered parking lots in the South Island to keep your vehicle safe from this pesky rubber eater. This is the only place we saw any of them in action.) Saying goodbye to this area was hard but we had to get on the road to Queensland. Leaving, we stopped just a few more times for more waterfalls - always more waterfalls.
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Jean Ann Bell
non-member comment
Thanks for the virtual tour
I continue to feel like I'm an international traveler. Thanks so much! When are you coming home? JAB