15 May MILFORD SOUND

We woke up at 7am to prepare ourselves for the long-awaited Milford Sound Nature Cruise.  A shuttle van would pick us up from Te Anau YHA and send us to a meeting point to take the coach.  We were told the whole trip (coach + cruise + return coach)  will take about 8 hr.  While waiting for the shuttle bus, we walked around the residential area near YHA, I only spotted a cat looking through a window of a house.  Where was everybody? 

Empty streets

The lonely tree and the solo traveller

 We later found out that the shuttle van that picked us up actually sent us to the Real Journeys office, which is only 2 minutes walk away from our hostel.  This was how good the service offered to us:)

Well, we hop on the comfortable coach with huge windows and expansive glass roof at 9 am. The distance between Te Anau and Milford Sound is 120 km.  It took 2 hours and 30 minutes to reach, with stoppings at scenic look out points along the way. 

One of the more remarkable stop was the Mirror Lake.  It was a small but still lake that reflects the mountains and trees perfectly.  However, since this wasn't a self-driven trip, many other tour coaches also stop at the same point, almost at the same time. The place was very crowded, mostly by Asian and Japanese senior citizens.  Everyone squeezed in for the best photography opportunity. That is why tour group has never been our cup of tea.

We also stopped by a place called Chasm.  It was another eye-opening experience.  Chasm is a natural water fall, which carved the stones beneath or besides the water flow into unique shapes.  Air and water are indeed the best craftman in the world. Of course, time is an important catalyst for the forming of this natural craftmanship.

After passing the famous Homer Tunnel, we soon arrived at the wharf and boarded on the Nature Cruise vessel to begin the Milford Sound's tour.  This Nature Cruise was recommended by an officer of Christchurch's i-Site. We were told that compared to the normal Scenic Cruise, Nature Cruise is solely conducted in English and it drives out to the Tasman Sea. Besides, it also provides an in-depth explanation on the formation of the fjord and other ecological details. Also, since it is more expensive, it will not be crowded by tour groups. It costed us NZ$ 147 per person, included a picnic lunch box.

Homer Tunnel

Fjord (pronounced as fiord) is a Norwegian word meaning 'an arm in the sea' was created many thousands of years ago during the ice ages, when glaciers ground their way across land, carving deep U-shaped valleys all the way to the sea.  After the ice age, the glacier melted and the sea rose, filling the glacier valley along the coastline.

  

Having said that Milford Sound is the wettest area in New Zealand, which only experience 1/3 of clear weather in a year, we were very lucky to have a clear sky today.  It was showering when Bernard last visited Milford Sound. People had to put on ponco in order to stay on the deck to view the scenery along the cruise.  The clear weather made him very excited throughout the cruise, especially when he saw the ice-capped mountain on both sides of the sound.  We also managed to see a few lazy seals sun bathing on a big rock. This was a highlight to me.

This was what I saw

This is what I did not see :(

Since it was a clear day, we did not really need a water proof jacket, so I was pretty glad that I saved my money by not buying a new water proof jacket to replace my 'feather leaking' china brand.  (But, an incident that was about to happen tomorrow made me spent more money than buying a good quality water proof jacket).

The strong chilly wind and the bright sun made me confused, was it cold or blistery hot? Before long, I began to experience sea sickness and felt quite a bit of nausea.  But, these did not stop me from enjoying the irresistable scenery.  When the vessel drove near the gigantic waterfalls, the strong wind blew the cascading waterfall back into the air. Everyone shouted in delight.

With our mind filled with unforgettable images of Milford Sound, we were finally on our coach, heading back to Te Anau. The winding routes made my motion sickness more serious.  I constantly felt like throwing up, but strong will avoided me from that.  Bernard also began to feel nausea half way through the journey.  I could not imagine how bad would the situation be for those passengers who needed to endure another two and a half hour's journey to go back to Queenstown. 

Having not eaten hot food for the one whole day, I decided to prepare hot Asian food for dinner.  So, back at the hostel, we went straight to Fresh Choice to buy some fresh ingredients.  The menu was potato chicken in mushroom gravy and blanch broccoli, served with rice. We truly enjoyed the tasty hot food.

There were a few times, both of us felt the ground shaking when we were in the kitchen and dining area.  I suspected a light earthquake but everyone else acted like nothing happen, we have to blame it as the aftermath of the sea sickness. 

Washing my hair after cooking is one of my many 'good' habits. So, imagine how bad it was to take a long shower in a cold night of 5 degree Celsius.  I was shivering, despite the hot shower and heater.

We both fell asleep at 10pm after a very long tiring day.

Moving on to Wanaka tomorrow, hopefully more wonderful things will happen to us.