The One with Misty Milford

Following a late night, getting up is never easy, and especially if you didn't get into bed until the wee small hours, are needing to catch a bus at 6.50am, and try and say goodbye to friends for the last time as you rush out of the door. It was for this reason that we nearly didn't make it to Milford at all... as we rushed out of the hostel we managed to stop our bus which had already pulled away, and jump on to it in the middle of the road. 10 seconds later and we' d have been going back to bed.

The bus wound it's way past the lake and down towards Te Anau. Despite feeling decidedly drowsy, I couldn't help but marvel at the scenery which was fantastic. I have a big thing about clouds over here, and they were really stunning this morning, plus there was a beautiful rainbow.

After a quick tea stop in the Te Anau, we stopped at some Mirror Lakes briefly. After the disappointment of Lake Matheson I didn't hold my breath, but this time, despite the drizzle, you at least got a reflection. Even the ducks were checking themselves out in the water!


Next stop was the Eglington Valley with wonderful views of the mountains, and with corn coloured grass pastures in front. A couple on our bus felt that this was real Sound of Music style country, and proceeded to try and jump in unison towards each other for the perfect photo, but just succeeded in making themselves look like real idiots!

We drove through Knob's Flat, and the Divide (the meeting of the alps) and then arrived at the Homer Tunnel. We needed to wait for the traffic lights to change and so got a good view of the Kea (an Alpine Parrot) attacking the awaiting cars. A bit like the monkeys in safari park, they go for all the rubber on your car and try and pull it off and give it a good chew. Our bus driver also told us that they like to ride on the bus to get the wind in their feathers, and they then stamp their feet if he slows down!

With it being a glorious morning when we left Queenstown, it was a bit of a disappointment that the weather was now cold and misty. We headed through the tunnel and into a wall of cloud and mist... not the stunning views I had heard of!

We stopped briefly at a place called the Chasm, a fantastic water eroded, near vertical rapids, with crystal clear turquoise coloured water, and by the time we had wandered through the forest track (complete with fern curls!), we reached our bus to find a couple of hungry kea's in full conversation on the top of the bus, and having a good nibble at whatever they could get their beaks around!

With a boat to catch it was frull throttle downt o the terminal, and on to the Spirit of Milford - our transport on the Sound for the next 2 hours.

Milford Sound is actually mis-named, as it is actually a Fjord, but hey, who's counting!? The mist and rain made for a very atmospheric journey around the water, but made it a little soggy to stand out on deck for too long (completely unprepared for rain I had left my jacket in sunny Queenstown!)

We saw Seals, and many waterfalls, and as we headed back in from the Tasman sea we were joined by some dolphins. I stood at the front of the boat and watched 5 dolphins swim along with us their tails under the boat, their heads poking out, as though they were a team of horses pulling us along! Fantastic! They joined us for a wee while, before swimming off to play with another boat.

We had a brief stop at an underwater observatory. The mixture of fresh and salt water makes for some very interesting marine wildlife in the Sound, and means that certain plants and fish survive here, that ordinarily would only survive at much deeper depths, so we looked out at corals and fish that we would otherwise need scuba gear to see!

Back on the bus and it was back the same way to Te Anau, and dozing on and off en route. I woke at one point to find the whole bus surrounded by sheep... a very bizarre experience! Then on to Queenstown, watching Dodgeball on the way. Back in Queenstown we spent out last night with the lovely Fiona and Sam (Sam - do you know what "corked" means yet?) - the group will split completely tomorrow, as H and I head off to Christchurch!