Milford Sound

Today will be a long day but we will enjoy a wonderful display of God's beauty and splendor!  We leave at 7:00 am so don't be late.

There is only one road that goes into Milford Sound.  The area was pure wilderness until 1954 when the road was built.  From Queenstown it is nearly a four hour drive.  You can fly in on a small plane for about $600 NZ round trip!

Fortunately there were some pretty overlook spots and a place to stop to pick up a sandwich for the boat ride. Of course it also had bathrooms and a handy gift shop!

The scenery was fun to watch as we went by many sheep farms and deer farms where they raise stags for hunting purposes.  We also went by many lakes.  They call this area the Lake District/Lakeland much like England.

These pictures are random spots along the way.

This first one was more spectacular in person as - we were shooting into the sun.

  

This stop had a nice Boardwalk along the little pond.  The views were spectacular - fog over the peaks and clouds reflecting in the pond.  

 

This beautiful lake was in the little town where we stopped to buy lunch to eat on the boat.  So pretty!  See the airplane there on the water?  Wouldn't that be fun!

 

 

 

    

Most of these pictures were at places we stopped, complete with bathrooms. 

 

 

There was a 1 km hike at this stop that took you to a pretty little waterfall.  Felt good to walk a bit.  Fortunately this group is very good about being back at the bus on time!

  

We had to stop and wait 6 minutes for the traffic to come through this tunnel, also built in 1954 when the road was built.  It is one way and was kind of scary.  The walls looked very rough - no cement or brickwork, no lights.  It looked it could crumble and fall at any minute.  This area gets a pretty good earthquake every 300 years or so - the last one was in the early 1700s so they are due!!!  I was glad when we got through it!

The picture below shows you the tin covering as you leave the tunnel...middle right hand side.  Mountains and ridges are so vast and tall it's hard to get the perspective.  One waterfall on the Sound was 3 times as tall as Niagra Falls but it didn't look that big.

 

The sheep pasture came earlier but landed here somehow.

 

Now here we are on a nice boat cruising Milford Sound out to the Tasman Sea which is between New Zealand and Australia.  We were told the Tasman is the most dangerous sea in the world.  Often there are violent storms or just plain rough high waves of 9-10 feet.  It is home for many sunken ships and the resting place for many lost st sea.  Often cruise 🚢 ships have to cancel their crossings going back and forth!

 

We had blue skies and the sun was out.  A nice change after the gray skies the past few days.  We were able to enjoy being outside enjoying the views the entire 2 hours.

The picture below is the dock where we started the ride.

  

 

The fjord was dramatic and captivating.  Brad said it is also dramatic when it is raining as well.  There are hundreds of waterfalls when it raining hard.  Today, I'll take the blue skies and a a few big waterfalls!

 

   

Not sure if you can see the seals resting in the sun.  There is one on the big white rock and one on the gray rock just  next to the big white rock.  There were 5 all together.  We also saw two dolphins swimming alongside the boat.  I just enjoyed seeing them and did not rush to get the camera out.  Always fun to see in the wild!

In the next picture there is a waterfall you can see top center - it came all the way down.  The captain brought the nose of the boat right up to the rock and I could feel the water.  Then he backed out again.

  

We went right in next to this waterfall, too.  Was quite wet!

 

   

You can see in this picture how wet I got under the waterfalls....  Good thing I am. It too particular about my hair...between rain, wind, long days and now waterfalls, it never stays in place!

   

The captain came right up next to this fall - the bottom of the tall one just before.

 

The trip came to an end toooooo quickly.  It was so pleasant and idyllic.  Could have stayed on the rest of the afternoon ... but we still had the drive back.

 

We listened to some New Zealand music groups and then watched a New Zealand movie, The Whale Rider.  It's about a young Maori girl and her relationship with her grandfather.  Interesting.  We will be in the area of the Maori tomorrow.  Stay tuned!

Andy and I walked into town and shared a good sized calzone for supper.  We had been sitting all day, so we didn't need much.

Hope you enjoyed the day!