Chris drove us in the little red sports car along the Milford Sound road from Te Anau to Milford Sound this morning, where we took a cheapo two for one cruise on the sound which was really good. We were being treated to yet more fantastic weather for this time of year, with clear blue skies and bright sunshine, but it was bloody cold and the hats and gloves had to be deployed for the cruise. We blagged the very front of the boat before anyone else on the half full trip got there, grabbed a hand warming cuppa from the little cafe inside and braced ourselves for the sights to come (and more importantly, against the cold!).
The sound isn't technically a 'sound' as it was formed by a glacier, not a river, making it a fiord. It still remains a mystery to me why it is called a sound. Anyway, sound or fiord, glacially formed or otherwise, it is a spectacular piece of landscape. The cruise takes you out along one side of the fiord, turns around at sea and then comes back down the other side. The captain knows his stuff too, and his running commentary filled us in on the hows and whys of the place, including a stop under a fine spraying waterfall, and a stop on the way back in to get up close to some sea lions enjoying a break on the rocks. There were not as many waterfalls along the side walls as there are when it is raining, but we still saw plenty and understood with help from the capitano just how 'wet' this place usually is. When we turned back into the fiord, the rest of the front of the boat emptied pretty quickly, no I didn't fart, there was a seriously bracing cold north westerly wind coming right at us, not felt before as we were shettled from it under the upper deck. Chris and I braved it out and were treated to a personal commentary from the (obviously impressed at how tough we were) captain and the best views of the fiord coming back into the mainland. The cut of the rocks show just how powerful a glacier is, with several key times being evident with the shape of the land, a fact not readily apparent on the way out to sea. Thankfully, this level of impressiveness helps keep you warm (ish)!
On the drive back down to Te Anau, we took the opportunity to stop off at several of the view points to take in the views along one of the prettiest drives in the country. The Homer Tunnel was quite impressive, going underneath one of the huge peaks near the coast, but it only made me wish I was driving a sports car so that I could do the everso grown up thing of winding the windows down and making as much (impressive) noise as possible for the long tunnel... sadly the little red sports car did not fulfil this desire.
Tomorrow we're going back to Queenstown to try some new painless suicide sports... woohoo! ;-)
Pictures from Milford Sound and the drive are over on facebook... look at them, go on.
