Milford Sound has the most amazing scenery, just look it up on your search engine and you’ll see blue skies and stunning glacier fjords. It is stunning and scenic and lonely and remote and not many people live there. This is due to the most enormous amount of rainfall per year you’ve ever known. Guess what weather we got? A bad thing? NO!! It was brilliant. OK, so it was a bit scary on the drive down, we’d opted for a coach trip which I would totally recommend as the drive is long, windy and scary as well as tiring. Although the coach driver went, in my mind, a bit quick in the hazardous conditions, deep breaths on corners.
There is a huge tunnel on the way, with one way traffic and on the way there you get a couple of stops, one of which is to say hi to a load of parrots (flock of three?) They haven’t read the parrot handbook that says to live in a nice warm jungle, instead they’ve opted for a snowcapped wet mountain range. Why? Well probably because all the tourists ignore the ‘do not feed the Kea’ sign, and bribe them into a photo opportunity.
The rain means the waterfalls are breathtaking and ALOT of water falls off ‘them there hills’. The pilot of the boat drives in close, due to the deep cliffs it’s possible to do so without beaching. A truly wet, cold and fun time for those with waterproof gear, not so much the older tourist who wants to sit and see nice blue skies. I hasten to add I’m in the first category, I hope, live life to the full and get a hot cup of tea to defrost afterwards. The pilot also managed to find me some dolphins, I have great shots which mean lots to me but if you want to see dolphins you can no doubt find better pics on the web. The main experience was just being within touching distance of them, so I thought I’d cheer you up with a holiday photo showing the weather and me doing a brave Titanic shot. The dolphins were literally beneath me playing in the waves under the prow.
The Mirror Lakes are a stopping off point, again a quick jump off /on bus stop well worth it if you like photography and seeing the country as it really is. Apparently a hotel was due to be built near the Sound but couldn’t get insurance due to the extreme weather (Earth shuddering etc) I’m glad. It’s beauty is in its wild nature. I do find it odd that travellers from around the world slept on the bus all the way there and back, I guess they know what they missed or maybe not. Also, how many young people grumbled about the rain, you’re in a rainforest get over it!
All in all, fab-u-lous! A personal thanks to the pilot / Captain of the boat as we had a fascinating intellectual conversation about ecology, history, politics and eco issues. Climate change is not ‘out there’ it is everywhere so please do your bit to combat it when you can.