Day 85

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Milford Sound trip. Probably the day I had been looking forward to more than any other, possibly apart from Challenge Wanaka day! I set an alarm to be sure to be awake, but was awake, as seems to be the case when we camp, nice and early. Up and showered before having some breakfast and heading to reception to get the mini coach at 8:20. I say mini coach, think maxi transit type thingy, 17 seats, and our guide, Bruce, was just hilarious as well as extremely knowledgeable about the local area. Turns out he’d worked on a sheep farm we passed en route for 20 years and so he knew what he was talking about.
The drive out included several stops, the mirror lakes, which weren’t really living up to their names, 10 mile flats, which were living up to their name, and various other sights en route until we made it to Milford itself. We were just about spot on time wise for our cruise and it became apparent that the boat was only going to have a handful more people on than the coach had, there was space all over the place, which was great. Our cruise included buffet lunch which was served as soon as we got on board and so we scoffed our food as the boat headed out, and I nipped out now and then for photos, as I tend to do.

Its not very often I am lost for words when it comes to things, but Milford Sound really blew me away. Maybe it was because we had the most amazing sunshine and blue sky all day, which apparently, for an area of the country that expects 8 metres of rainfall a year, and calls 9 consecutive days without rain a drought(!) is exceptionally unsual, but it was just spectacular. Basically everywhere you looked was enormous mountains or expanses of water, there truly aren’t words to describe it. Thankfully, I don’t have to try and explain the layers of rock, the copper staining the rocks, the waterfalls (which were less than usual due to the lack of rain) as the photos will hopefully go some way to doing it justice. Our cruise was 2.5 hours, which got us right out to sea and back again to the visitors centre which features a 10m under water observatory, which was alive with coral and fish and was an interesting little stop off. Once back on dry land, mostly recovered from the bit of a dousing we got at the base of one of the waterfalls, it was back on our bus and a detour to the airport where 4 of our party had booked helicoper flights. We then lost another 4 as there was a plane which offered to fly at least 4 people back to Te Anau for $190 each, normaly price $250 so after a bit of discussion, 4 people took the plunge and we aquired a couple of hitch hikers and set off again. More stops en route back, including meeting the helicopter just the other side of the tunnel, and before long we were back at our campsite and trying to take in our day.

We had some dinner and then the day caught up with Helen, so she went to have a sleep, and I headed to the local cinema to see the ShadowLands movie, a 30 minute high definition film shot from mostly a helicopter, showing the Fiordlands in all their glory. Having spent $35 on a DVD copy of the movie, so I can see it again whenever I start to forget just how amazing this area is, I wandered back to find Helen After that, I sorted out some of the photos onto the computer and then it was time for an early night as we are off to Dunedin tomorrow. Or at least trying to see how far we get! Definitely one of the most breathtaking days of my life today, though.

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