* Wednesday. Today was our exciting trtp to Milford Sound. Now I have to admit to not really reading much about Milford Sound and therefore didn't particularly know what it was or what to expect. One thing I did know is people rave about it and it is a must. So off we went at 08:00 on our little bus with John the tour guide and a American-Japanese couple from Hawaii. We drove on the Milford Road into the Fiordland National Park and the scenery just opened up. It was unbelievably epic. Mountains, river, temporary waterfalls falling off the rocks, and a mere glacier hanging around by the side of the road.
The park is beautiful and full of forests as well as all of the tall mountains and hills. These forests were used to film Rivendale sequences in Lord of the Rings. It did feel very hidden and fairytale. Without sounding too much of a hippy, the nature seemed very alive.
We continued along the track until we arrived at the dock for our boat cruise around the sound. The water was calm and serene with indescribable craggy hills and waterfalls falling down it. On the boat, I learnt quite a lot of geography (you see I didn't even do GCSE geography so I had a lot to learn!) For those who don't know, a sound is a series of hills connected to the sea which been has carved out by a river over millions of years. A fiord is a series of hills connected to the sea which has been carved out by a glacier over millions of years. So in fact, Milford Sound is an incorrect name. The European discoverers assumed it must be a sound when in fact it is a fiord. So Milford Fiord would be more accurate. Regardless, it was overwhelming as a sight.
We continued along the track until we arrived at the dock for our boat cruise around the sound. The water was calm and serene with indescribable craggy hills and waterfalls falling down it. On the boat, I learnt quite a lot of geography (you see I didn't even do GCSE geography so I had a lot to learn!) For those who don't know, a sound is a series of hills connected to the sea which been has carved out by a river over millions of years. A fiord is a series of hills connected to the sea which has been carved out by a glacier over millions of years. So in fact, Milford Sound is an incorrect name. The European discoverers assumed it must be a sound when in fact it is a fiord. So Milford Fiord would be more accurate. Regardless, it was overwhelming as a sight.
On our boat journey, we went right up into waterfalls (getting a little wet by it's mist), saw lots of little seals resting on rocks and playing in the water and yellow crested penguins fishing in the water (no photo though, they were too quick...).
At the end of water, we approached the Tasman sea. We didn't really appreciate how good the weather was until we were told by the ship how bad it normally is. Apparently it rains so much in Milford you can get 1/2 metre of rain in one day. And the Tasman Sea is mostly super choppy. We had sun and calm waters. It was cold, but that is quite fun. Once you were out at sea, the entrance to the Sound seemed like it had disappeared and was just coastline. Apparently, James Cook sailed past it twice and never saw the entrance... As we went back in it was one of the most amazing sights.
After mooring up back at the dock, we hopped back on the bus and drove back the way we came so we could do the beginning of the Routeburn Track. We had a couple of good ad-hoc stops on the way.
That was the advantage of our tour with Trips and Tramps is that they stop on request and our super relaxed. John was really interesting and nice. Weirdly, we was married to an English woman who went to Essex University and he had spent a lot of time in Colchester and Ipswich. Small world.
Our walk was 2 1/2 hour return up to the top of a 1000m mountain side (I reckon we started about 500m but don't tell anyone). We worked up a little bit of a sweat but it was worth it for the views at the top. As you sat there, you half expected a couple of Orcs to walk past... After a little walk around the top, we were unexpectly greeted by John with a flask of hot water and cookies! So we had freshly picked tea-tree tea and a yummy snack. Getting down the hill was a lot easier than the ascent as you'd imagine and Ame and I enjoyed a well deserved snooze on the way back to Te Anau.
Our walk was 2 1/2 hour return up to the top of a 1000m mountain side (I reckon we started about 500m but don't tell anyone). We worked up a little bit of a sweat but it was worth it for the views at the top. As you sat there, you half expected a couple of Orcs to walk past... After a little walk around the top, we were unexpectly greeted by John with a flask of hot water and cookies! So we had freshly picked tea-tree tea and a yummy snack. Getting down the hill was a lot easier than the ascent as you'd imagine and Ame and I enjoyed a well deserved snooze on the way back to Te Anau.
Once back at the campsite, Amy made Chicken Tikka Masala whilst me and dad chilled with a beer outside viewing the Lake Te Anau (it was her turn to cook, I did it the other day before you think we've gone all sexist!). We were in bed nice and early after our epic day, this time looking forward to our Glow Worm Cave experience the next day...
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