feldmanlarry

Nov. 9, 2017 — Te Anau to Milford Sound Cruise, New Zealand (see MS on the west coast of the South Island).

We had heard from many people that we should definitely go on a Milford Sound cruise and this was today’s goal. Today was probably the most visually stunning day of the trip and will have the most pictures of any blog entry. It would be hard to come up with a single best highlight of the trip but this may be it.

The road from Te Anau to Milford was closed due to snow on the day before (Nov. 8). It is also a fairly treacherous ride. The red areas on this map are the areas where it is forbidden to stop due to the danger of avalanches. There are areas where they ask you to use your gears to stop not your brakes. Driving on the left through an avalanche seemed like a lot of fun.

I was happy not to feel like a wimp for not wanting to drive since it did seem a little sketchy, especially if we encountered snow (which we didn’t). We took a bus tour to get to the cruise and were very happy to have done so. The bus had a glass roof and full picture windows. I ended up seeing so much more from the bus than trying not to get killed driving. Interesting how sometimes not going on your own lets you do and see more. Usually it’s the other way around.

The bus driver was very entertaining and we had frequent stops. One was at Mirror Lakes. The sign was reversed so that you could read it in the reflection.

Because of the snowfall the previous day, the waterfalls were very full.

View of mountains from the bus

At one of the stops we saw a Kea, a rare type of parrot.

After the bus we moved on to the ship.

View from the Milford Sound port

The guide said that it’s unusual to see all three of the main sea animals (penguins, seals, and dolphins) in one day but we were there on a good day.  This description from a brochure describes two of them.

Penguin at the top

Another penguin

I tried to ask the dolphins to stop moving for a while so I could get a good picture but they seemed to be in a hurry, maybe to keep up with the ship. Here’s my best attempt.

Bottlenose Dolphins off the side of the ship

The female seals were sunning as a large group while the big male was off on his own. This seems like a sick human male fantasy.

Female seals

Male seal

My wife can be fearless. I’ll probably never forget this incident for the rest of my life. The guide warned us that we were about to go right into a waterfall to experience its power (some what like the Maid of the Mist at Niagara Falls). We saw another ship go in before us.

We were about to go where this ship is

Many people including Margaret and I rushed to the front of the ship to see the waterfall up close.

Just before the deluge

Soon it started getting wet. I mean wet. Really wet. I moved back as far as I could while still being outside. Most people scurried inside. Margaret stayed right up front.

Margaret as one of the very last to leave, soon to be the only one left

Soon everyone else had left. I was soaked to the bone. There were only a few dry spots on my body and I left way before we got to the very worst of being inside a waterfall. Margaret stayed up front the whole time.

My very last picture before I wimped out. Margaret is still there somewhere.

I’ll never forget the crowd thinning out more and more until only one intrepid passenger remained. One of her pockets was a miniature pond.

Here are some pictures of waterfalls and mountains. It is possible to get bored with beauty. I remember being almost annoyed at seeing elephants in the Kruger park in South Africa since we had seen so many of them. How many waterfalls can you see before it’s enough? Fortunately, we didn’t get anywhere near that point.

Looks like a lace veil spread out

The furthest point we got on the cruise was to Tasman Sea in open waters.

Tasman Sea

While the bus on the way down made frequent stops and gave a lot of commentary, on the way back he announced that he was going to be quiet and concentrate on getting us back as quickly as possible and without stops. This was exactly what we were hoping for. We were done for the day but we weren’t sick of the views.

More mountains and waterfalls on the way back to Te Anau from Milford Sound.

Just before the tunnel entrance on the way back

Glad they build this tunnel rather than trying to drive on a road through these mountains

Some days when you travel things just work out, like this one. The snow closing the road the day before and not this day led to us being able to see very full waterfalls. We saw all the main animals. I spoke with people who took the cruise before us and they complained of heavy cloud cover that we didn’t have. The decision to take the bus made for a much more enjoyable day. The company that ran the hotel pickup, bus, and boat (Real Journeys) had everything really well organized. I wish all of life could be like this.