December 16

Milford Sound

I slept late, getting up at 9 AM. I had to leave before 10:00 to catch the 10:30 cruise I had reserved. I ordered a continental breakfast at the lodge: all the toast, cereal and coffee you wanted for $4. I didn't have much time, so after breakfast, I packed quickly and walked rapidly to the visitor's center. It was a long way, and it took me 20 minutes to half-run with my pack to the Red Boats desk, arriving at 10:25. They told me the boat had already boarded, and the next one was at 11:00, but the boat was still in dock, so they let me board it.

The Israeli, Orey, was on board, with less than a dozen other passengers. I didn't have to worry about the boat being full. Orey wondered why I had brought my pack, but I said I did not want to walk all the way back to Milford Lodge afterward, when I could get the bus at the visitor's center.

It was cloudy and a little rainy today, more typical Milford weather than yesterday's clear skies. The peaks were in clouds today. The cruise went out into the sound, a fjord technically, and we saw a number of waterfalls and a rock with seals. We went to the mouth of the sound, where the Tasman sea was visible, with a large rock ahead which was said to be on another continental plate. The beaches here were supposed to be a good source of greenstone, the local jade which was prized by the Maori. Collecting it is illegal.

We turned inland into the narrow passage, saw some more seals, and stopped to see Stirling Falls, where the captain backed the boat directly under it for a wet closeup view. My eyeglass lens popped out while viewing the falls, and I was glad I had brought my pack, since I had a repair kit in it.

Milford sound is unusual because all the rain makes a 10 meter layer of fresh water (at most) over the salt water. An observatory was built on the sound to allow the unusual marine life, which normally is found much deeper, to be seen from a submerged platform. You have to get a special boat to visit that.

After we returned to the dock at 12:15, I walked out the board walk to Bowen Falls, which supplies hydroelectric power to Milford. Later, I met Orey at the pub, where we had pizza and beer. Orey then walked back to Milford Lodge to get his stuff and wait for the bus, while I walked over to the Visitor's Center, which actually wouldn't have been necessary since the bus stops at the pub also.

The bus arrived at 2:45, and I boarded and was given a "Certificate of Achievement" from the Bus Company, Mt. Cook Landlines, for completing the Milford Track. Some people were a bit embarrassed by this. The bus left at 3, and forgot to stop at Milford Lodge, so it missed Orey and the German. There would be a later bus, however.

The ride back was very scenic. There was a long tunnel, narrow and roughly finished, at the pass. On the other side, the bus stopped briefly to let people out for a view. Some mountain bikes were lying in the parking area, and a kea was busy pecking at the tires. We arrived at Te Anau at 5:15. I was happy to find that my car still started.

Back at the hostel, I looked through menus to find an interesting restaurant. I picked Red Cliff Cafe, with an interesting gourmet menu. The front room is a bar. I sat in the small restaurant in the back. I had "Kiwi" onion soup (French onion soup with a cute name), followed by Algerian chicken over couscous with apricots and nuts a leafy garnish and a ring of mint sauce. The presentation was attractive. I also had a Streit's Old Dark, my favorite of the common beers I had tried so far in New Zealand. For desert, I had chocolate-strawberry cake. It all came to about $30 NZ, about the equivalent of $20 US, including tax.

Later I stopped at the dairy to get some laundry soap, and had a hokey pokey ice cream cone too (hokey pokey is a kind of brownish aerated hard candy). Then I returned to the hostel and did laundry. I talked to Roy, who I had met earlier here, and who was on the Milford Track, for a while. I finished laundry fairly late, and went to bed.

Copyright Scott A. Yost, 1996. All rights reserved.