6am alarm bell this morning to catch our bus to Milford
Sound. I had heard about the switchbacks heading to the Sound so the kids and I
had our Quells tablets with breakfast this morning. I think it was a combination
of the tabs, the early morning starts and the late night’s blogging that puffed
me out. I slept on the bus for the first
couple of hours. Both kids did too.
After stopping at Te Anau for the coffee/loo stop we had
several photographic stops from there onwards. Eglinton Valley, Mirror Lakes,
Homer Tunnel, Fiordland National Park, Knobs Flat for another quick loo stop
and Chrisite’s Falls before arriving at Milford Sound.
Low clouds hugged the tops of the mountains adding to the
mysterious aura of the Fiord. We went on the cruise ship and had our sumptuous hot
lunch while working our way to the mouth of the Sound. We had the obligatory drenching
under the waterfalls, watched misty rain fall, and watched the dolphins, penguins
and New Zealand Fur Seals all play. Mitre Peak stands as the centrepiece of the
glacier carved valley with her top closely shrouded by cloud.
Sean spent some time on the bridge with the Captain, Annie
had her camera out shooting with me and Kym made his way around the three decks.
Annie eventually plucked up the courage to stand with me at
the very tip of the ship to get a thorough experience of the waterfalls, its
thundering noise and the spray. She won’t be forgetting that in a hurry. She and I have taken a heap of photos which I've just dumped on the
hard drives as I just don’t have the energy to go through them now.
We all had an opportunity to take the helicopter back to
Queenstown via a landing on the Glacier that carved Milford Sound. (for a hefty
price tag). Kym just looked at me and said go. So I did.
What an thrilling chance to take up. I took a few shots and
filmed the landing and the take-off from the Glacier. The snow was pure and
flawless. Not a single impression of anyone being there before us. (At least
for that day.) The wind chill made it feel much colder than it was. I tried to
roll up a snowball with my bare hands only to find the snow too dry to stay as
a ball. But by hands were immediately turning pink with cold due to the breeze.
As I walked on the snow my feet crunched down about a foot. It was so dry and
powdery looking. Much more like crunchy icing sugar. I should have done a snow
angel there in hindsight as it was so dry.
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Take off was exhilarating because you just fly above the
crest of the glacier and the world just dropped away on the other side. It just
plunged straight down. I had more of an exciting sensation of it today than I
did at the Grand Canyon when I choppered off the South Rim into the air above
the Canyon.
So a half an hour flight and a 20 minute taxi ride (part of
the deal) saved me a 3.5 hour trip back via coach. Kym brought the kids back on
the coach and they were all rather shattered by the time they got back here
about 7.45pm. I had tea cooked but they were beyond hungry by then. Just
showered, nibbled a bit of tea to be polite and straight to bed.
We are back on the ski slope at Remarkables tomorrow. The
weather looks like it might be taking a turn for the worse. We have had 2
sensational days of sunshine on the slopes so far, and the overcast day which
was perfect for capturing Milford Sound with all her mystery, so we have been truly
spoilt.
cya
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