Left Invercargill at 6:30am so that I could get to Te Anau in time to take a tour bus up to Milford Sound (and then take a boat tour of the sound). The beginning part of the drive was all through farmland -- which was good since it was (1) dark, and then (2) foggy. I was lucky though -- when I turned west on 94 -- the fog lifted -- and I stopped to watch a beautiful sunrise.
NZ fact of the day: there are only 4 -5 deciduous trees that are native to NZ.
Te Anau & Milford Sound are in Fiordland --- in the southwestern corner of the South Island. Very beautiful and very wet. Fjords/fiords are long, narrow inlets with steeps sides or cliffs created by glacial erosion. There are 2 big ones here -- Milford Sound and Doubtful Sound (odd that they call them sounds when they are really fjords). Milford Sound is easier to get to -- Doubtful Sound is bigger, but much more remote.
This area also includes 3 (out of 9) of New Zealand's Great Walks.
The drive up to Milford Sound was gorgeous -- mountains, glacier, lakes, streams --- and amazing destruction from avalanches -- the regular kind and tree avalanches (which I had never heard of -- but I gather it's when the trees grow up the side of a mountain ... and have intertwined root structures -- and when the top 1 or 2 decide to let go -- they pull the rest down with them).
The boat ride on Milford Sound (22km long -- dominated by Mitre Peak) was also beautiful -- except that there were way too many annoying people on the boat.
It was drizzling when I got back to Te Anau -- walked into town (quick 5 minutes) to find some dinner -- went to a cute Italian place (run by an actual Italian -- from Verona). And that was it for the day.
On the tour, I met an Indian couple on their honeymoon -- 3rd set that I've met while in NZ -- I can always pick them out -- the women are wearing loads of bangles and are dressed strangely for outdoor travel in NZ (in dresses & heels). Nice couple though -- she's from Bangalore and he's from Chennai -- so we had a good chat about India.
Which reminds me -- forget to add this on to the Catlins Coast post -- that day I met the same people over and over again -- it was like we were all using the same guidebook. And strangely enough -- there were 2 couples from Australia who were even staying at the same holiday park in Invercargill --- nice people -- they invited me over for drinks -- and gave me lots of good tips about what to see when I return to Australia.
Weather: foggy, sunny, cloudy, rainy, 55 - 65F
Miles Walked: 3.6
km Driven: 156.4
(pic notes: 1 of the pics is of a deer farm -- lots of controversy about deer & elk here -- they were introduced by the British for hunting -- but are now deemed pests -- and there are working to eradicate them -- so open hunting -- and also moving them to deer farms. The pic that looks like an upside-down mountain was taken at Mirror Lakes -- great reflections! The 2nd to last pic isn't of snow -- it's a glacier -- totally forget its name though.)
NZ fact of the day: there are only 4 -5 deciduous trees that are native to NZ.
Te Anau & Milford Sound are in Fiordland --- in the southwestern corner of the South Island. Very beautiful and very wet. Fjords/fiords are long, narrow inlets with steeps sides or cliffs created by glacial erosion. There are 2 big ones here -- Milford Sound and Doubtful Sound (odd that they call them sounds when they are really fjords). Milford Sound is easier to get to -- Doubtful Sound is bigger, but much more remote.
This area also includes 3 (out of 9) of New Zealand's Great Walks.
The drive up to Milford Sound was gorgeous -- mountains, glacier, lakes, streams --- and amazing destruction from avalanches -- the regular kind and tree avalanches (which I had never heard of -- but I gather it's when the trees grow up the side of a mountain ... and have intertwined root structures -- and when the top 1 or 2 decide to let go -- they pull the rest down with them).
The boat ride on Milford Sound (22km long -- dominated by Mitre Peak) was also beautiful -- except that there were way too many annoying people on the boat.
It was drizzling when I got back to Te Anau -- walked into town (quick 5 minutes) to find some dinner -- went to a cute Italian place (run by an actual Italian -- from Verona). And that was it for the day.
On the tour, I met an Indian couple on their honeymoon -- 3rd set that I've met while in NZ -- I can always pick them out -- the women are wearing loads of bangles and are dressed strangely for outdoor travel in NZ (in dresses & heels). Nice couple though -- she's from Bangalore and he's from Chennai -- so we had a good chat about India.
Which reminds me -- forget to add this on to the Catlins Coast post -- that day I met the same people over and over again -- it was like we were all using the same guidebook. And strangely enough -- there were 2 couples from Australia who were even staying at the same holiday park in Invercargill --- nice people -- they invited me over for drinks -- and gave me lots of good tips about what to see when I return to Australia.
Weather: foggy, sunny, cloudy, rainy, 55 - 65F
Miles Walked: 3.6
km Driven: 156.4
(pic notes: 1 of the pics is of a deer farm -- lots of controversy about deer & elk here -- they were introduced by the British for hunting -- but are now deemed pests -- and there are working to eradicate them -- so open hunting -- and also moving them to deer farms. The pic that looks like an upside-down mountain was taken at Mirror Lakes -- great reflections! The 2nd to last pic isn't of snow -- it's a glacier -- totally forget its name though.)
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