Where to begin. 7:00 alarm was a bit too early because neither one of us slept too good. Bed was comfy, but pillows were too tall and that is a problem for us. So we drug ourselves out of bed because breakfast was at 8. Janice fixed us scrambled eggs, toast, hash browns and she also had yogurt, lemon muffins and fresh fruit. We were done eating when the other guests arrived. They were from Scotland and they were retired dairy farmers. Very nice. They have been all over the world. After our interesting conversation, we took off for Milford Sound. Google it when you get a chance. It is probably the biggest tourist attraction on the South Island. When you see the pictures you'll know why.
There were several stops along the way that Janice mapped out for us. The first was mirror lakes. It was right off the road and it was tiny lakes that were like mirrors to the mountains behind them. One place was so clearly reflected it was honestly creepy. The problem with mirror lakes was it is currently the home to a few black dippy ducks and duck water ripples and the effect of the mirror kinda didn't work together. :) We got the idea tho. It was wonderful. The next place we saw was Knobs Flats. It was a breathtaking view of the mountains but had this great big plain of grass. Janice says it is so quite there it is a unique experience. It was quite windy, so the silence wasn't there for us. :) Still.... Next we came to the top of Lake Gunn. It was the rain forest. It had long mossy stuff hanging off all the branches of the beech trees and also had its long twisty roots covered in moss. Definite movie type setting. I took some pictures, but because it was sorta dark in there, I really needed a tripod. Didn't have one so did the best I could. Next was the Homer Tunnel. Gee, lets see...an old tunnel dug out in the 1930s that looked like a mine inside and only really handled one way traffic and was a mile long...that was a good time. ha ha Now on to the best one of the trip up. The Chasm! Wow is the only word I have. You walked back about 7 minutes into the woods (good concrete trail suitable for wheelchairs) and you could hear it roaring, but couldn't see it. When you could it was scary and amazing all at once. I had Guy hang on to me while I took pictures and video. Not that I could have fallen in, but it was from a bridge looking down into this Chasm! A gorgeous stream flowed to this area that I can only really explain as the top of a waterfall. Only it was pouring thru holes in rocks that have been carved out over thousands of years of water flowing over it. Holes so big that dead trees were caught in them. It was so amazing. I took tons of pictures just the get "the money shot". It was wonderful. When we got back to the parking lot we were scolded by a bus driver because we were parked in a bus slot not a car slot. When we got to the giant parking lot there was only 2 cars there (which we parked by). When we came out there were about 3 buses and 4 cars. Still at least 10 bus slots open. He went on and on and I got in the car and left him to Guy. After leaving us he moved on to the next car. I guess he didn't have anything else to do and his speech was rehearsed you could tell. :) We laughed and went on.
When we got to Milford Sound we were a bit early for our cruise. So we checked in at the desk, walked around, got some food and took a short nap in the car. Even tho the weather was GORGEOUS, there were a bazillion sand flies that bite! and so we stayed in the car with the air on. Refreshed, we got on our boat and I got my camera ready. Even tho it was about 3:30, it doesn't get dark til way after 9pm, so the sun was still strong in the sky. The shots were better on the way back as the sun was to my back. Perfect. The boat captain said there was a drought because it had been 2 1/2 days since it had rained. He said it rains 2 out of every 3 days. There were only 5 permanent waterfalls, which we saw, but he said when it is raining, you can't see the top of the fiords, but the 5 waterfalls turns into 5000 waterfalls and he said it is a sight to behold. Down every straight up fiord there is just water pouring off. We talked to a lady from Michigan the other day on the bus and she had been there in the rain and said it was something else. So we had the second best day, blue sky. The worst would be if you were there on a socked in cloudy day with drizzle or no rain. Then no mountain tops AND no waterfalls. Honestly, the road coming up was such a twisty turny that I wouldn't really want to do it in the rain. Luckily for us, when our cruise was over, the buses were already gone and except for a few campers, there was no one coming up. The captain also said they had 1000 earthquakes at Milford A MONTH! He said most of them you don't feel because they are way below in the deep deep water. :) He did say a few years ago they had a good one and it did some damage to the tunnel. He wished us luck going back thru it on the way down. Thanks for that buddy...
Anyway we cruised for just at two hours looking at the amazing fiords. Even tho a bit hazy, the photos I have again won't begin to tell the story. There were some postcards there that I bought, all done by the same photographer. They were amazing, but you can tell he must go there all the time, all times of the day and from all areas around up in the mountains just behind the marina. They were just excellent. - Back to the boat... our captain pulled up to several areas of interest, like sun bathing seals and the bottom of waterfalls. He got so close the boat was about 2 feet from the fiord wall and everyone was getting wet. :) It was fun and I got some pretty good shots.
What a blessed day. I'm pooped and will try to sift thru the 250+ shots I took today to show you some of the highlights I mentioned. It was just one of those perfect days. Tomorrow we are going to take off early and head back to Queenstown and go as far beyond that as we can. We are on our way to Mt. Cook which is really our final sight before heading back to Christchurch and flying back to Auckland for a few days. It will take us 2 days to do this. They are supposed to get some bad weather here tomorrow, so it is best we just head back inland.
Oh yes, the boat captain said that some of the snow/glaciers at the peaks were greyish looking because of the ash from the fires in Australia. He said they are better now because of some rain they've had up there that has washed it off. Cool...