Milford Sound – Fiordland National Park | The Escapades of Pookie and Allan

Just want to mention before I talk about today’s fabulous adventure… The views from the gondola yesterday were really beautiful. I guess I was so giddy after going up such a steep incline, I forgot to mention how spectacular the panarama was that was spread before us when we reached the top. It was really amazing!

Today Catherine told us the story of Shrek the Sheep. It’s really an amazing story and you can read about it here:. https://www.montessorihandwork.com/post/the-story-of-shrek-the-sheep

An interesting fact about New Zealand’s wildlife… Sheep, goats, deer, etc. have all been brought into the country over the years. The only indigenous mammals in New Zealand are the bat and marine mammals.

Today we saw a kea parrot. The Kea is the world’s only alpine parrot and lives in the high mountains of New Zealand. They are beautiful to see, and are highly intelligent. They have been known to turn on water taps and once one Kea locked a mountaineer inside an outdoor bathroom. However, they can cause a lot of damage to cars… Particularly to the tires as they like to peck on them to sharpen their beaks, thus shredding the tires.

We started our day very early… Eating breakfast at 6:30 and on our coach at 7 for the long drive to the west coast of the south island…to visit Milford Sound which is 173 miles from Queenstown, traveling the Milford Road.

The Milford Road is much more than just a way to get to Milford Sound. This was an amazing journey through Fiordland National Park. We passed through magnificent glaciers, valleys that were carved by glaciers, waterfalls, clear ice blue rivers that looked like the waters of Antarctica, and of course rainforests… All in one journey.

We crossed through the Main Divide of the Southern Alps and the highest point we climbed to was 3,083 feet. It began to snow and we watched as the beautiful mountains were covered in a blanket of white and the valleys were filled with snow. It was early in the season for this to take place, so we were extremely lucky to be able to see it.

As our journey began upon leaving Queenstown, we passed Lake Wakatipu. Lake Wakatipu has a ‘tide’ or actually a seiche, which causes the water to rise and fall about 4″ every 25 minutes or so. Maori legend thought a monster named Matau, was sleeping under the lake and it was his heartbeat causing the rise of the water. Apparently, Lake Geneva has this same phenomenon. We didn’t have time to witness the seiche ourselves, but visitors do sit at the waters edge and have fun timing it. It’s a pretty reliable rise of water every 25 minutes.

We passed hay bales in the pastures and everyone calls them marshmallow fields because the bales are wrapped in white plastic and look like giant marshmallows. Some bales are wrapped in pink plastic and some in blue. The farmers buy these colors especially for breast and prostate cancer awareness and the extra money they pay to purchase the colored plastic is donated to those causes.

We continued our journey through Fiordland National Park which was made by glaciers 100,000 years ago. There are waterfalls streaming down the mountains, a rainforest, lakes, and fiords. It is a beautiful passage to Milford Sound, with something different to see every few miles.

We made a pit stop at Te Anau, known as the gateway to the fiords and we enjoyed a coffee and did some quick shopping. I bought a really nice merino, possum, and silk hat to keep me warm.

We got out of the coach to stretch our legs at Mirror Lake and we walked along the boardwalk through the beautiful woods. Unfortunately, it was raining so we weren’t able to see the reflections of the mountains that make Mirror Lake so famous.

We went on our way and entered the Eglinton Valley. It was carved out by glaciers thousands of years ago. Beech trees line the valley and there is beautiful tussock grass below. I actually saw effects of a beech landslide that I mentioned in a previous post.

It started to snow and the mountains were covered very quickly in a winter wonderland of beauty. It was awe-inspiring standing before the towering mountains and looking up and feeling so insignificant. The scenery looked like a postcard. We couldn’t believe how beautiful it was.

We passed through Homer Tunnel which is a 1.2 miles tunnel through solid rock. It took over 19 years to complete and before it was built, there was no access road to Milford Sound. The tunnel passes through Darran Mountain.

We also stopped to view Mt. Tutoko, thought to be named after a Maori chief. It is the highest peak in Fiordland National Park – 8,934 feet. We were able to see the peak as we gazed up since suddenly the clouds parted.

We found ourselves in a beautiful rainforest as we traveled through Cleddau Valley and then we finally arrived at Milford Sound and boarded our boat.

Upon going aboard, we enjoyed a box lunch and a glass of wine, and then we went up on deck to view the cliffs, the glacial valleys, and waterfalls. The Milford Sound is apparently one of New Zealand’s most visited sights. We saw dolphins as we cruised along, but did not see any penguins that are sometimes there, as they had not yet migrated back from Antarctica.

The sun was shining and the sights were amazing. Palisade Falls, Bowen Falls, and Stirling Falls. The boat goes up close to Stirling Falls and you get covered with the mist. Legend says that the waterfall’s mist makes people look younger. I was drenched in the mist so you probably won’t recognize me tomorrow as I’ll look so young!!

The boat went into the Tasman Sea for a bit and then turned around and sailed back to port. It was a two hour cruise and we all enjoyed it immensely.

We boarded our coach for the long ride back to our hotel and arrived at 7:45 and had a bite to eat.

It was a fabulous day…Long, but absolutely wonderful.