We were picked up at precisely 6:25 AM by our bus driver for Mitre Peak Cruises. Once the remaining about 30 other passengers were on the bus we headed out to a small tourist town called Te Anau, which is the starting point of the world-famous three-day hike known as the Milford Track. Sadly, as our vacation isn't going to be as long as we'd like it to be therefore we weren't going to do the Milford Track but we WERE going to see the endpoint and go on a short cruise: Milford Sound.
Our driver asked everyone to sit back and take a snooze during the 2-hour drive to Te Anau but as the skies had cleared and the mountains were more visible, I wanted to take in the scenery. Big mistake. As the driver had informed us, the road was "not even remotely flat" and I actually started to feel car sick so I closed my eyes and nodded off with white knuckles. After a short break in Te Anau and after we picked up a couple of more passengers it was another couple of hours to Milford.
At one point we went through Homer Tunnel, a 1.2 km long tunnel that was dug with picks and wheelbarrows starting in 1935 and finished with slightly more modern equipment in 1954. The walls have a very rough look to them because there is no need to shore them with brick or other materials - the tunnel was dug into solid granite!
Along the way we made several stops at scenic locations. Our driver very enthusiastically told us that the closer we got to Milford, the more the landscape would become "better-er and better-er". He was not joking. We went from lush green rainforests (described as thousands of years of stuff growing on other stuff) to high peaks with trickling water falls to deep glacially-fed creek gorges to large valleys that early pioneers had bravely tried to farm. At the end of the road our only task was to get onto the boat and set off into the sound where the clouds were giving the whole place a very mysterious feel. We had periods of rain and also clearer skies. It was absolutely stunning.
While waiting for the green light to go through the tunnel, we were met with three very mischievous Kea who wasted no time trying to destroy the cars in line. One took a ride on the back of one vehicle and was nearly carried into the tunnel but it flew up onto the entrance just in time. Keas are pretty amazing alpine parrots. Check out this video link here. Our driver explained that because these birds know they can get food from people, they spend all of their "free" time being very naughty.
And now, the sound! The mountain in the middle is called Mitre Peak and supposedly looks like a bishop's hat
National Geographic Pose
In the right photo here are a couple Fijordland crested penguins, which are pretty rare
Sleepy seals
On the way back we stopped at a parking lot to check out some Keas. These birds have no fear!
See the driver of our bus looking out the window in the upper photo? That's him trying to get my attention because apparently Hans and I didn't see when it was time to leave and he just started driving away. He was a bit sarcastic, our driver. As I went around to the other side of the bus I saw that the doors were still open even though it was moving. I took the hint and leapt onto the traveling bus, hoping I wouldn't be yelled at. Without saying a word he closed the door and prepared to head back onto the highway - at which point I had to ask him to also let Hans back onto the bus...
Here are a couple of parting shots of dramatic NZ scenery. I don't know the name of the valley in the left picture. To the right is Lake Te Anau
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