Milford Sound

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Since heli-hiking up Fox Glacier, Cait and I have made our way down the West Coast down into Fiordland. This is the New Zealand that I day-dreamted about my last semester at Wellesley when I should have been studying. Snow capped mountain peaks, crystal blue lakes, glacial fiords, tons of hiking and kayaking. Woohoo! Throw off the shackles of tourist traps and into the wild!

We met up with Caitlin's friend from Picton, Alice, a soccer player from Haverford. I can't tell you how nice it is to have someone who is so similar to our backgrounds (athletes from small liberal arts colleges in the Northeast). I know we are supposed to meeting new people, but we've been doing that for 3 MONTHS! It was surprisingly nice to hear someone else who says "like" and "you know" every other word like, you know?

We gave Alice a ride down to Te Anau, a small town that serves as the base camp for trampers doing the Great Walks. We continued up the windy but incredibly scenic Milford Road. We camped by a beautiful river before the Eglinton Valley and continued waging our war against New Zealand's sandfly popluation. Although in retrospect, we probably shouldn't have made curry for dinner if we wanted those nasty buggers to leave us alone. Oops. Continuing on, we set up shop at Milford Lodge at the end of the road for a few nights.

In a spur of the moment decision, we booked a day tour of the Milford Sound by kayak. When we arrived at the boat launch the next morning, to our suprise, there was Alice! Small world. The three of us went with Fiordland Wilderness Experience, a great kayaking company, who operate with ecological motivations. We had a great day with our guide, Will, who in his past life worked with disadvantaged children and the outdoors. Neat guy!

I was very impressed with the kayaking (even though it was too windy to go far out into the sound) so I decided to sign up for the 3 day tour of Doubtful Sound. Doubtful sound is even FURTHER down south and even MORE remote. Apparently it is THE paddle you must do before you leave NZ, so I MUST do it. 😊 That starts on Feb 10 and lasts until the 12th.

Caitlin's left to do the Kepler Track, a Great Walk. I opted out for this one. I didn't feel like hiking for 3 days straight. What can I say? The stereotype of kayakers might be true in a way, we are a bit lazy. But why walk with a 30 pound pack when you can glide on water? 😊

Until then, Chippy and I have made our way back up to Arrowtown, a SUPER cute little village with a gold rush history. I induldged my nerdish tendancies and went to the local museums and the old Chinese gold miners' settlement. I also saw King Kong, directed by Wellington Kiwi Peter Jackson at an incredibly overpriced theater (Dorothy's Theater). It was a nice theater serving wine and beer and cheeses during intermissions, but my poor backpacker's wallet was aching after that one. Oh well, you've got to splurge once in a while, eh?

I made another quick stop in Queenstown (I wasn't a fan of the MTV Spring Break scene, even though the lake is beautiful). I continue on back to Te Anau to pick up Cait at the trail head and then get ready for my own adventures in the wild.

Next time, Doubtful Sound!
love
meesh

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Photos

Eglinton Valley
We camped under this

Milford Road
These Kiwis :)

Icy Mountains
Driving on Milford Road

Forest
Enchanted. With Elves :)

Queenstown
It's a bit too much like MTV Spring Break here at times, but you can't beat the scenery

Comments

[anonymous]

Hi Michelle,Beatuful pictures! I have to add one more place to the list that we plan to visit after retirement. We may have to hire you as a travel guide. Dad.