Today we will visit the spectacular Milford Sound. This place has actually been misnamed as it
is not a sound but a fjord – one of 14 fjords in Fiordland National Park.
This area of New Zealand is known for its fjords, lakes and waterfalls
– remnants of the Ice Age. Most early
explorers and settlers missed this area as the Sound sits inland from the ocean
and the entry point is so narrow that many ship captains just sailed by it. Today the area is a scenic wonderland of waterfalls,
marine life and dramatic mountains. It
was called “the eighth wonder of the world” by Rudyard Kipling.
Although overlooked by early settlers, this has been home to Maori for
many centuries. They considered
themselves the keepers of the fjord and amassed a great knowledge of the local
marine life – seals, penguins, dolphins, and whales.
To reach Milford Sound, we traveled by bus through stunning scenery,
along the shores of Lake Te Anau and finally into the Fiordland National Park
where we stopped at Mirrow Lake. The
lake was like glass and the reflections were amazing. The mountains in this area are covered with
trees that basically grow on top of the rocks.
Due to the erosion there is a thin layer of soil on the rocks and the
trees take root. Some trees are lucky
enough to take rout where there is a crevice so their roots go deeper into the
rock. However, if one tree falls down,
it creates a tree avalanche (similar to a snow avalanche) taking with it
everything in its path. You often see
these bare swaths of rock in an otherwise forest covered area. From Mirror Lake we drove to the 1-mile long Homer
Tunnel. The tunnel itself is an
engineering masterpiece drilled through pure rock. The northern entrance sits at the top of a
beautiful glacial valley and all around you can see Kea birds – the only alpine
parrots. Apparently, they like rubber
and have been known to destroy windshield wipers on cars parked at the tunnel’s
entrance. Unfortunately we could not
stop as they doing a major construction project on the tunnel and there was
only one lane available for two-way traffic.
So we had to queue up until it was our turn. The face of the mountain on the other side of
the tunnel was sheer rock and it is here that Sir Edmund Hillary practiced his
mountain-climbing skills. We stopped
here to admire the scenery and to also fill up our water bottles with the pure
New Zealand spring water from a nearby stream.
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| Entering Fjordland NP |
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| Forest growing on the rocks |
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| Mirror Lake |
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| Mirror Lake |
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| Crystal Clear Stream |
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| Filling our water bottle in the stream |
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| Inside Homer Tunnel |
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| Face of mountain used by Sir Edmund Hillary to hone his climbing skills |
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| Inside the temperate rainforest near The Chasm |
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| The Chasm |
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| Rainforest at The Chasm |
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| The Chasm |
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| Rainforest |
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| Mt Tutoko and its Glacier |
Once we reached the Sound, we boarded our ship for a scenic cruise
around the Sound. We were lucky – we had
a small boat and were the only group on board.
Lindsay had ordered us a picnic lunch that was waiting for us when we
boarded the boat.
Milford Sound is about 10 miles long, several thousand feet deep, and flows
into the Tasman Sea. From the boat we
were able to see the perfect cone of Mitre Peak which rises over 5,500’straight
up from the Sound. Along the edge of the
Sound, jagged cliffs rose up from the water and cascading water from the many
waterfalls tumbled down to meet the Sound.
It is also home to bottlenose dolphins and fur seals, and during the
months of October and November, the crested penguin nest here before returning
to Antarctic. We were lucky enough to
see several New Zealand fur seals sunning themselves on rocks at the water’s
edge.
Near the entrance to the Sound is Dale Point, a piece of land that
nearly blocks Milford Sound from the Tasman Sea. This was the reason the early explorers and
settles bypassed this area. They simply
could not see the Sound. However, the
Maori have known about this area for centuries and still visit the rocky beach
called Anita Bay in search of a rare type of pounamua called tangiwai
(bowenite), a clear, green stone that legally belongs to the Maori and which
they carve into jewelry. Back in the 19th
century, the Ngai Tahu (a South Island Maori tribe) sold millions of acres of
land to the British Crown in return for a promise of schools and
hospitals.
However, the British Crown defaulted on its promises, and the Ngai Tahu
tribe was decimated as it had lost all its land, food sources, and fishing and
hunting rights. Finally, in 1991, the
English government rectified this wrong through the Ngai Tahu Settlement. In addition to economic redress in the form
of $170 million, they were also given ownership of all New Zealand’s
greenstone, including the bowenite found at Milford Sound.
According to Maori legend, the tangiwai are the petrified tears of a
woman who was stolen from her husband.
Also, according to Maori legend, the Sound itself has a tragic
history. The Maori name for Milford
Sound is Piopiotahi (“one single singing thrush)” named for the piopio bird
that is now extinct. When the Maori
mythical god Maui, accompanied by a piopio bird, went looking for immortality
for his people, he was killed by the god of death. The bird, grief-stricken, then flew to the Milford
Sound to mourn.
Following the boat ride, six of us took a small plane ride back to
Queenstown (instead of the 4-5 hour bus ride).
Thank goodness the day was calm so there were only 2 bumps as we took
off. It was beautiful seeing the Sound, surrounded by the mountains, from the
air.
As we flew over the mountains, Lake
Wakatipu and Queenstown came into view.
Bill was able to get a picture of our hotel (from pretty far away as I
do not have a good zoom) and I got to see the one thing I was really looking
for – the runway!
Despite my fears, the
ride was excellent (even though the pilot looked like he still belonged in High
School).
It was an amazing day – one
Bill and I will not forget!
Flight back to Queenstown:
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| Ready for our flight |
The next day was just as amazing as we went on a Jet boat ride up the
Dart River. The bus ride up from Queenstown was breath-taking with wonderful views of Lake Wakatipu.
Drive from Queenstown to Dart River:
The Dart River is one of two
rivers that feed into Lake Wakatipu.
In
the area that we were riding, the water is only about 6-12” deep.
The boat has a jet unit mounted in the
forward section of the boat.
Water enters the jet unit intake on the
bottom of the boat, at boat speed, and is accelerated through the jet unit and
discharged through the transom at a high velocity which propels the boat
forward about 40 mph. Since there are no
propellers, the boats can operate in very shallow water, although occasionally
they do scrape the bottom. Bill and I
were seated in the front row of the boat next to the boat captain. Again, my fear of the unknown caused me to
seriously rethink my decision to take this ride, but it was too late to change
my mind. And after the boat captain did
our first 360 degree spin, I was loving every minute of the ride.
The boat trip was about 8 kilometers up the river and then we
disembarked at a place called Paradise where we had a short walk through the
temperate rainforest that was the location of several scenes from the Lord of
the Rings trilogy.
And then a 20 minute
bus ride back to the starting point.
We all wished we could have taken the
boat back to the starting point instead of the bus.
Photos from our Jet Boat trip up the Dart River:
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Lord of the Rings Mountains
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| Treking through the Lord of the Rings Forest |
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| Forest |
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| Gandolf or Hobbit |
What a fabulous 2 days in Queenstown.
The scenic views from here are almost beyond description.
And the weather was perfect – blue skies,
sunny, no wind, and moderate temperatures.
Who could ask for anything more, except maybe to stay another couple of
days!
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