Milford Sound

---

Jim from New Zealand Wild Escapes picked us up a bit before 7:30am, right on schedule. We then picked up two other tourists, Bruce and Nick from their hotel. Our destination for the day was Milford Sound. As the crow flies Milford Sound is only about 70km west of Queenstown, unfortunately there are no roads through the mountains so to get there we end up driving almost 300km. The first leg is south through the sheep and deer stations along the southern arm of Lake Wakatipu. We then turn west for a bit and at the town of Te Anau we turn back north through the Fiordlands National Park. Te Anau is a cute combination of farm town and backpacker & camper stop. We were able to stretch our legs there for a half hour or so before starting back to the north. To stay awake Pat had a long black.

Now’s a good time for a word on coffee in New Zealand. First and foremost, US style drip coffee is non-existent and everything is either an espresso drink or made with a plunger press, what we call a French press in the US. In addition to the normal lattes, cappuccinos etc. there are three local drinks, the short black, the long black, and the flat white. The short black is just an espresso in a regular coffee cup while for the long black the cup is filled with espresso and hot water. The flat white is espresso and milk and seems to be the most popular combination with the Kiwis. This means that the concept of a “bottomless cup” is also unheard of in NZ. On the occasions where more than one cup might be required out comes the plunger press. OK, so what does this mean for a coffee drinker, first everything is strong and somewhat bitter, you Dunkin Donuts fans are in trouble. Also that means you generally wait while the barista steams the espresso, and if you get the plunger watch out for the last sip, as the filter doesn’t catch 100% of the grounds. The last mouthful gets a little gritty, but you will likely only do it once. However, once you get used to it, the coffee is really pretty good.

Anyway, refreshed at Te Anau we entered the Park and drove through some native birch forests, not the silver birch you see in the western US, but a much larger, darker tree. About half way to Milford Sound we stopped at Mirror Lake which is in a sheltered valley. Since it was a nice day the lakes were doing their thing and gave a nice reflection of the mountains making up the valley wall. Finally we arrived at the Milford Sound Cruise Terminal. And a Terminal it is, since this is such a popular destination, there is a massive car park (a dozen tour buses, lots of rental cars and rental campers and tons of people) but Jim was well known to the cruise operators and navigated us through the confusion and on to a boat operated by Jucy Cruises with about a hundred and fifty of our closest friends. It was feeling pretty commercial and touristy till we pulled out of the dock onto the Sound and saw what all the fuss is about. The scenery is absolutely spectacular, and I suspect the pictures won’t do it justice. The fiord walls rise 1,200 feet above the water almost vertically and there are waterfalls all along. We cruised out to the end of the Sound at the Tasman Sea where it got a bit choppy and we turned back. On the way back we stopped by a rocky ledge where a group of seals were laying about sunning themselves and then sailed almost under one of the waterfalls. We enjoyed the waterfall from inside the cabin. All too soon we were back at the dock and on the van for the trip back. However first stop was the Milford Sound airport, Bruce and Nick had opted for the Drive – Fly version of the tour so they boarded a small plane for a trip over the mountains back to Queenstown. I suspect the views were great on the flight because it was crystal clear by then. We had opted for the Drive – Drive version so had three more hours for a nice chat with Jim.

We got back to Queenstown in time for dinner. We both opted for blue cod fish and chips, one of the local versions of that stand-by. This time Pat avoided the big beer and was able to post the “Outbound Leg” entry that night.

Learning to do this blogging has been a bit of an exercise, and we didn’t have affordable internet access in Queenstown so we’ve gotten a bit behind but we hope to get caught up. (I’m actually writing this in Sydney). The next post will be about trying to drive on the left.

---

Photos

Pat 'n Connie
On the road to Milford Sound

Treefern
In Fiordlands NP

Comments

[Jan]

Beautiful scenery
Your pictures are beautiful! Is Mirror Lake the same place you went kayaking?

[PatnConnie]

Oh no, kayaking was on a very still river and lake.