The Sound of Milford

The day starts with a bang, well a crash really. In the dark,  Maria walks into the corner of the completely invisible  glass shower screen, cuts her toe and bruises her shoulder.  I told you this sort of luxury is not for the likes of us.

When it finally comes to actual wake-up time, Maria reads me extracts from The Otago Daily Times.  Top story today was an obituary for a young lad who died in a boating accident.  Most moving of all was when his father asked him what he learnt in prison:

The key is on day one to establish your cred, on day one if someone gives you a sideways look smack them in the head

I think that is a rich life lesson for us all!

After breakfast, it was a short stroll to meet the coach that was taking us to Milford sound.  The coach was already nearly full with people who had travelled from Queenstown.  They had already travelled for two and a half hours,  makes for a mighty long day for them.

On the road

Our glass topped coach takes us down the Milford Road,  which was created in the 1930s to provide work by driving a road through inhospitable terrain.  All the way along we are over shadowed by huge mountains still with snow on them.  In winter the road is often blocked through avalanches.We stop at a few points along the way to visit "the Mirror Lakes", "the Chasm" and there is a stop at the tunnel as it is singe tracked and it only operates in one direction, reversing every 15 mins.

Mirror lakes

More Scenery

The Homer Tunnel

At Milford Sound, we board our boat for the tour of the sound.  The weather is a tad damp with the occasional heavy shower but that is kind of par for the course at Milford.  The real impresive thing about the sound is the sheer size of the mountains dropping into the sea.  the boats we are on are dwarfed by it.

That is a really large boat

Moody Milford

We are supposed to be on a nature cruise but the only thing we see are seals,  the penguins & dolphins were clearly rained off.

Fur Seals

A couple of times they nose the boat right up to the wall of the fiord, under a waterfall to soak the people at the front of the boat.

Waterfall Patterns

Your entrepid reporter

The boat

Eventually the cruise is over and it is back on the bus.

  We can't hang around as wee need to get in front of the Milford Classic cycle race which is just about to start.  Luckily we make it in time other wise it would have been at least an hour delay for our fellow passengers, most of whom are sleeping away on the way back.

We got back about 6 but our fellow passengers had  another 2 hours or so to travel.  Glad we decide to go fromTe-Aneu.  Evening meal was a snack at The Moose Restaurant and Bar, where the veggie option was sold out.  More than one vegitarian in New Zealand.. Amazing.

I saw out the day playing with a few shots on the overcast lake shore.