Milford Sound

Gayle and I were picked up from our hotel this morning at 7:30 in a glass-roof Mercedes Sprinter to head to Milford Sound.  It was raining and the forcast promised a whole day of rain in Milford Sound, which is a five hour car journey from Queenstown.  There were twelve of us on the van with the lovely guide and driver, Geena.  Geena spends half the year doing this tours and the other half of the year she splits between Queenstown and Whistler, Canada where she sky dives strapped to a tourist’s back.  

I was disappointed that it was raining.  I was sure there would be little for us to see as we cruised Milford Sound. Geena assured us that the best days at Milford Sound are the rainy days because it creates spontaneous waterfalls throughout the area.  Five hours in a van with strangers is a bit of a long day, but there were beautiful things to see and we made several stops.  There were rainbows, waterfalls and rain forests to look at.  We stopped in Te Anau for some coffee and fruit and a bit of respite.

The weather was dreadful but Geena gave us wonderful commentary about farming, Maori stories, wildlife, etc.  Eventually we arrived in Milford Sound at the marina.  This is our boat for our tour of Milford Sounds.

When we got on we learned that this boat was just for the twelve of us from the sprinter van.  We had watched other huge boats pack people on.  We were going to be living the good life.  We had a table waiting where we would be served a gourmet meal, in which most everything was sourced from the South Island.  So while we passed waterfalls and wildlife and mountains, we were served eight magnificent dishes plated to perfection.  Neither of us were fans of the deer tartare or the Titi croquette but the wapiti bone broth, the Mt. Cook Alpine caviar and the smoked eel were exceptional.  

Meanwhile we were traveling past incredible beauty.  Geena was right that rain creates so many waterfalls.  It turns out it rains here 220 days out of the year.

We were free to get up at anytime and move outside on the decks to see the beauty surrounding us.  The rain stopped and the sun came out and with it even more rainbows appeared.

We passed a baby fur seal with one of its parents.  I knew how special this must have been when the skipper stopped the boat and all the staff came up to ooh and aah.

The skipper pulled us over to Stirling waterfall and invited us all to the front of the boat to get misted by the falls.  We were promised if we did so we would wake up tomorrow10 years younger.  I was game.  I didn’t last very long.  I came back inside to the waiting towel before my younger fellow tourists. Maybe I’ll only get five years younger.

Gayle and I had prebooked our return trip from Milford Sound on a small plane.  We didn’t really want to spend another 5 hours in a sprinter van if we could get home a different way.  We knew that weather could possibly cancel our plane flight home.  As we the rain stopped and the sun came out we got hopeful that a plane ride was in our future.  Geena met us at the dock and said she had good news.  While the plane flight home was cancelled we could choose to throw some money at it and travel back to Queenstown by helicopter.  I have been in a helicopter once before.  Gayle and I flew over the Columbia Icefields in Canada.  I was terrified the whole time.  But when it came to the choice between 5 more hours in the van and a helicopter ride, the decision was easy.

I was frightened.  I grabbed Gayle’s hand or knee every time we encountered some turbulence but the flight was magnificent as we passed glaciers and glacial lakes.

Halfway into the flight our pilot landed on top of a small ridge, overlooking Lake Wakatipu.  This is the longest lake in New Zealand and the one Gayle and I see from our hotel balcony.  What an absolute treat to land here and get out to look around.

For the second half of the flight the pilot moved some of us from the back seat to the front seat.  What a treat to experience the Southern Alps from the front seat of a helicopter.

We were back in our hotel room before 5 p.m., hours earlier than those in the sprinter van.  The world is such a beautiful place and I am so grateful I got to revel in it today.  Gayle and I collapsed onto the couch in our hotel, overlooking Lake Wakatipu, turned on the fireplace and enjoyed a clear sky view.