Milling around Milford Sound

After some breakfast at the picnic table by the van we set off for Milford Sound. Everything was going great until we stopped for some petrol in Te Anau. Stepping out of the van I momentarily forgot my phone was on my lap. Before I knew what hit me my days old phone was on the concrete floor with a big web of cracks across the screen. Needless to say I was not happy and it put a bit of a downer on the day. First stop along the route was a short walk around lake mistletoe, although I wish we had never got out because it was the dullest walk of our travels so far. Further down the road were the mirror lakes, although maybe due to the weather, I didn't see my miserable face, or a reflection of the forest, beaming back at me. We did another short walk at cascade creek lake, through the mossy fairyland-type woods. Just as we were approaching the Homer tunnel, I caught sight of a few people looking at something on the ground. Keas! Hugo pulled over and we jumped out to take photos. The kea is a native endangered bird, the world's only alpine parrot. They are known for their mischievous behaviour such as eating the rubber seals from cars (they are high in energy), but are also intelligent, being able to work together to achieve a shared goal. A group of kea is aptly called a 'circus’, and the NZ equivalent of beaver scouts are called kea!

After passing through the tunnel and winding down the hairpin bends, we had just enough time to speed walk across the car park to 'the chasm’, an impressive volume of water flowing forcefully into the river below. The final destination was Milford Sound itself and after a quick chocolate brownie we made our way to the boat departure jetty. We checked in with Mitre Peak cruises and were given a complimentary cookie. We had purposefully chosen a smaller boat company so that we could go further along the sound and closer to the sights.

It was drizzling when we set off, so we sat indoors next to the panoramic window, helped ourselves to a complimentary coffee and looked out to see Bowen falls. We listened to the commentary and then went outside. One of the guides pointed out a group of kingfish jumping out the water. On our left hand side it was possible to see a sub-faultline, which appeared as a large crack down the rockface with a waterfall cascading through it. There were also hanging valleys, just like out of a geography textbook. The skipper radioed across to a luxury cruise boat that had just pulled in two rock lobsters, and so we manoeuvred over to take a look. One of the guests held up two enormous lobsters like trophies. Further out towards the Tasman sea we got a good view of some Fiordland penguins, similar in appearance to the yellow eyed penguin. On the way back we stopped to see some seals hanging out on a rock. There were glimpses of blue sky but the cloud and mist refused to move from the top of mitre peak. The dark waters and dramatic skies contributed to the majestic scenery, with steep mountains rising on either side of the channel. Final excitement for the day was to get sprayed from Stirling falls as we passed almost underneath it. I swear I saw a dolphin on the way back, too. Just before 6 we stepped back on to dry land and made our way back to Manapouri. Tea was a strange concoction of steak, noodles, and broccoli, with a side of baked beans to satisfy my craving for them.Read more