Amazing. Truly amazing. Milford Sound. If you are lucky enough to travel to this part of the globe, you must go and visit. Actually it isn't a Sound, it's a glacial valley*
From our base, it takes three sides of a square to drive there. From Wanaka the coastal fiord is only about 80 km as the kea flies. But a 300 km detour is no hardship through the most amazing scenery and clear blue lakes and rivers. Every corner you turn brings a new and spectacular viewpoint. It appears that after Queenstown we have stumbled upon the Scottish Borders, then Highland Perthshire. In fact, we drive through Atholl, complete with the ubiquitous rugby posts. Apparently they take it quite seriously here.
We eventually reach Te Anau (FILL UP WITH PETROL HERE!) and the start of the Fiordland National Park. It's huge, the size of Belgium. And far more interesting. Probably has more famous people too; no, TinTin doesn't count...
Ignored on several voyages by Captain Cook, the first real settler in the area was a highlander called Donald Sutherland. Allegedly a cumudgeonly and irascible man, he bears no resemblance at all to any current blog writers. With his wife Elizabeth, Sutherland set up the first hotel in Milford Sound in the 19th century but until the building of roads; firstly along Lake Te Anau and much later to Homer's Saddle above the Sound. A tunnel bored through the Saddle was only completed in the 1930s after which tourism burgeoned.
The journey up the road was helped along by Mike who provided an interesting commentary on an App I was astounded to have successfully downloaded. Towering mountains, 'U' shaped glacial valleys and dense forests full of native birds. Then we pop out of the tunnel to a jaw-dropping vista of sheer walls 1500 metres high and a steep gradient down to the settlement itself.
We had organised a cruise in the fiord, a visit to the Discovery Centre and a kayaking trip. Excellent. The only problem is that the area has almost 8 metres of rainfall each year, more than twice that of the Amazon Rainforest. No surprise then that it was raining when we awoke. But a yomp down to the quay, surprising untrubled by the pesky sandflies, NZ's own equivalent of the midge, was a bonus. And then, a break in the clouds over The Mitre, the rock nearest the settlement and an amazing rainbow over the fiord. Then a chilly cruise where we encountered seals, rare fiordland penguins, kakas and many, many Koreans.
None of these pictures can do real justice to the views. If you can, just do it!
A visit to the Discovery Centre was informative but more interestingly had an underwater viewing platform about 17 metres below the water. Here we could see rare black coral (perversely it's actually white) and the fish and crustaceans which live around the coral. In fact the top level of the fiord is freshwater (due to the volume of rainwater) stained by tanins (like in tea) extracted from the trees and plants washed down from the rock, so the lower salt water is extremely dark. This means that sea life which would normally habit deep water, tends to patrol the top few metres of the fiord. So visitors like us benefit from being able to spot dolphins, sharks and whales. Sadly, all of these were washing their hair that day so we spotted none.
And then a kayaking trip. What chaos as 11 incompetents furiously turned around in circles for 45 minutes. Diane and I were rammed at least twice by HMS Nagasaki before we got away from the pack and paddled up Harrison Cove to the glacial river which partially feeds the fiord. Scooping up the water to drink was a treat to savour, the most refreshing I think I have ever tasted. If only for a drop of Caol Ila....
Our guides, Jacob (NZ dude, cropped hair, ZZ Top beard) and Yamaha (yup, that was his real name) managed somehow to get us all home in one piece and sadly we handed back the fetching and fashionable attire.
Then back up the valley and a long drive home, but no worry, an incredible experience. Simply phenomenal.
*Oh yeah. The Milford fiord was carved by glaciers over several ice ages and glaciers. A Sound is formed either by water eroding rock on the way out, or by incoming seas. Mike told us that.