Day 21
Summary: Rode tour bus to Milford sound for a 2 hour nature cruise
Wednesday, January 22nd
It was raining a bit when we woke up at 6am after it had rained all night. We dressed for chilly/rainy weather in our hiking boots, hiking pants, and rain jackets. The rain let up as we walked down the street from our Airbnb to the main road where the Real Journeys tour bus picked us up at 7am. We were one of the first people to be picked up, so we sat in the front (due to winding roads ahead) and spent the next 30 minutes driving around Te Anau, picking up people from their various accommodations. Finally, we stopped at the Real Journeys office and picked up our nature guide before heading to Milford Sound. Both the driver and the nature guide gave commentary as we drove.
We stopped at a few locations along the way to get out and look around.
Below is a picture of Mirror Lakes.
At first I thought the sign had fallen over, but then I realized they were being clever!
This was Greg’s favorite view. It’s hard to tell just how magnificent it was by the picture, but there were lush trees on a rocky mountain with a snowy peak in the distance shrouded in mist with a river flowing at the base. It was pretty epic.
In the picture below you can see the snow on the mountain peak isn’t pure white. The nature guide explained the ice was discolored by the ash from the Australian bush fires that blew over the Tasman Sea and settled in the mountains on the west coast of New Zealand.
At the next stop, we saw a Kea! The Kea is a parrot – the world’s only alpine parrot. They are very intelligent and curious. As each tourist bus arrived at this stop, the kea flew to the roof and gnawed on it with its beak. I took the first picture through the bus’ skylight as the kea landed on the roof and looked in through the window at me.
The only road into or out of Milford Sound is a tunnel under a mountain. The night before, a tourist’s car caught on fire while passing through the tunnel. Luckily, no one was injured. Every vehicle on the Milford side of the tunnel had to back up and remain there until the tunnel could reopen several hours later. It made for a late night for some of the guides, including our nature guide, who then had to wake up early this morning to go right back.
Normally, there is an automated stop light and camera system that controls when vehicles can enter the tunnel because there is only one lane. However, the fire destroyed the electrical system, so they had to station workers on either end of the 3/4 mile long tunnel with radios to direct traffic until the repairs could be made over several days. We’re very glad we weren’t involved in the accident or the delays!
After about 3 hours, we arrived at the harbor and boarded our boat, the Milford Mariner, for a 2 hour nature cruise! We look a little crazy in the picture because we were being bombarded by little sandflies! We were excited to get on the boat and leave the flies behind on shore.
Milford Sound is actually a fiord: a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, formed by a glacier. A sound is formed when a river valley is flooded by the sea. Milford Sound is said to be New Zealand’s most famous travel destination.
The nature guide who was on our tour bus with us was also the nature guide on the boat. He walked around the deck with a microphone, answering questions and providing information about the geological formations and the human history in the area.
It was very windy, so we put up our hoods and tightened them up.
Some tour companies also offer plane rides to Milford Sound instead of taking the bus. They say it’s amazing and I can imagine!
When it rains, tons of thin waterfalls form along the cliffsides, making for a spectacular ethereal landscape.
It reminds me of Rivendell!
After a while, we reached the mouth of the fiord, which connects to the Tasman Sea. If you sailed northwest, you would reach Australia.
When purchasing tickets, you can add on a little lunch that they provide on the boat. We decided to buy it since the tour lasted the whole day. We got the vegetarian box and it was very good! They provided quite a bit of food, so we had some leftover snacks for later.
We saw fur seals! These are juveniles resting in the fiord until they are old enough to keep up with the rest of the group. They were so cute! I especially love the one sleeping on the really steep section on the bottom right.
Each tour boat gives its passengers a closeup of the waterfall by driving right up to it. It reminded me of Maid of the Mist in Niagara Falls.
After we disembarked the boat, our tour group went on a little nature walk by the harbor.
The best way to combat the sandflies: cover your whole face with your Buff!
As we drove back to Te Anau, we stopped several times to get out and admire the beauty of the area.
The photo below is from a location called The Chasm. Before we got off to check it out, the bus driver said it was her favorite place and impossible to fully describe. Not thinking much of that last statement, we walked into the woods and came upon a bridge over rushing water. We were immediately like, “Whoa, this is indescribable!”
The photo doesn’t look like much, but in person there were huge rocks, split by a river that tunneled through oddly shaped holes worn through the boulders. I thought, “Oh, chasm! That’s the perfect word to describe this!”
It’s not just a trick of the angle, the Real Journeys bus is higher in the back! We asked the driver why this was, we thought it was to help with the sharp descents through the mountain roads. She said it was actually designed like a theater so the people in the back can get a better view than just the seat in front of them. The roof also has windows, which makes sense because the bus ride to Milford Sound isn’t solely a method of transportation, it’s a scenic view the entire time.
We drove back up a bunch of switchbacks to the tunnel through the mountain. One last look!
We fell asleep between the last roadside stop and Te Anau – it was a long day! We got lucky and were the first to be dropped off at 4:15. We walked back to our Airbnb and chilled for a little bit before heading to the town center for dinner at Ristorante Pizzeria Paradiso. We had a caprese salad and a BBQ jackfruit pizza. It looked so much like chicken, I thought they may have gotten the order wrong at first! To me, jackfruit doesn’t have a ton of flavor and the consistency is similar to artichoke hearts. It is a really cool meat substitute.
For dessert, we walked to the grocery store and bought two Cookie Time cookies since we saw them everywhere! Cookie Time is a New Zealand company so we figured we had to try them! We heated them up in the microwave at the Airbnb and our consensus was they tasted alright. Not amazing and not bad, just alright.
We relaxed and watched the rest of The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King.
Thanks for reading!
-Rebecca
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