As the sky began to brighten we drove into low cloud, so visibility actually got worse, but after about 90 minutes it began to improve, and Blake took over driving.
We arrived at Te Anu (famously the last station before the long drive to the sound) earlier than expected, so treated ourselves to breakfast and some gift shopping at the tourist centre. A long, low white cloud hovered over the valley below is, so it was also incredibly picturesque.
We returned to the road, with Blake driving and I taking photos as we headed north. The drive from Queenstown to Milford Sound is a horseshoe shape due to the mountainous terrain - roughly south for a hundred kilometers or so, then east to Te Anu, then north to Milford Sound. Luckily the scenery was fabulous the whole way, but especially for the last third:
We drove through an exciting tunnell which was very raw - not tiled like those in the UK but bare rock on the walls and ceiling. As we emerged, we also encountered a Kea, a rare mountain parrot found only in New Zealand! It was a beautiful creature and very friendly.
Finally we arrived at Milford Sound an hour early. The weather was still pretty bleak, the cafe was overpriced as expected (I think most things are delivered by helicopter here as the road is so long) and the biting sandflies were out in force - they were like midges but painful instead of itchy, which I had no tolerance for. On that basis, we shut ourselves in the car and had a lovely hour long nap before boarding our easyjet boat
(The boat is totally unrelated to easyjet, it just has a common colour scheme). Blake quickly bagged the comfiest seat (pun intended), and we headed out into the gloomy sound.
Photos cannot explain the scale of Milford sound. It makes you feel atom-sized. It is rugged and lush and untouched by humans, absolutely my kind of beautiful.
It is also populated by fur seals! We watched one fishing below our boat before passing his lazy (or less hungry) colony sleeping on the rocks. Fur seals were pushed near to extinction because their habit of sleeping exposed on rocks during the day made them easy prey for hunters, and lots of them became coats.
The sun came out at about this time, lighting up the characteristically New Zealand Azure blue water, throwing shadows across the craggy mountain faces, and illuminating the bright greenery clinging to the steep slopes.
Magical. New Zealand continued to awe me every day, but for the second time in just three days, both Blake and I were left absolutely stunned.
The drive back was also beautiful, I managed to catch a sunburst over lake Wakatipu, just outside Queenstown.
We arrived in time for sunset, so whilst Blake returned to the lake beach to catch up with his friends, I took my camera for a walk along another bank, recording the sunset on the west facing facets of the surrounding mountains, and climbing up a tree for the hell of it, much in the manner of yesterday's scramble down the river bank en route to Wanaka.
It was a lovely evening, but I was hungry, having not eaten since our lunch of fish/spring rolls and chips on the boat.
A friend had advised me that I had to sample Fergburger, a famous Queenstown burger joint, but when I arrived to find this queue, I resigned myself to give it a miss, and cooked a supermarket pizza instead.
How good could these burgers be anyway?
No comments:
Post a Comment