Milford Sound
Trip Start
Sep 25, 2008
1
45
47
Trip End
Feb 05, 2009
Queenstown, South Island, New Zealand
Sunday, November 23, 2008
The weather was better than it had been the day before, but heavy cloud still remained as we motored out and along the southern edge of the sound towards the Tasman Sea. Milford Sound is basically a huge, deep, flooded valley with sides made up of near-vertical cliff-faces to which trees cling and down which tumble huge waterfalls. With so much rain the day before, the falls were pretty spectacular and (apparently) far greater in number than after a few days' dry weather. The way the cliffs extend deep below the surface too was illustrated at one fall when the boat (a large cruise catermeran) approached to within a few feet - close enough to drench those stood at the front of the boat.
As we passed down the Sound, the weather began to improve and we managed to see some patches of blue sky between the clouds which still hung around the mountains; draped around their sides in ribbons like tinsel on a Christmas tree. Despite this, the wind as we neared the open sea was enough to create waves which tossed the ship around violently as we turned to return along the north wall and back into the shelter of the fjord. We passed Sutherland Falls and then a large rock covered with seals basking in the sun (all squabbling noisily over sitting space) before arriving at Milford Deep - an underwater observatory where we disembarked.
We were welcomed to the centre by the improbably figure of a tall, hirsute marine-biologist who was Brasilian but, for some reason, was called Igor and spoke like Borat. He showed us down a spiral staircase into an underwater chamber some 8-9 metres below the surface, from which we could look out and see various fish and corals. Apparently, the strange shape of the fjord and high rainfall create a layer of fresh-water several metres thick which sits on top of the sea-water, blocking out the light and therby replicating conditions 50m below the sea in much shallower waters. Nevertheless, for those used to the artificial 'Sea-Life Centre'-style aquarium where sharks and turtles drift past on queue, the murky waters and obscure flora and fauna were slightly underwhelming for all but the keenest naturalist. That is, apart from the extremely irritating middle-aged woman in our group who fawned noisily over even the slightest mollusc; flirtatiously pestering Igor for names and information. Fortunately and pleasingly though, she was eventually shot down after exclaiming; "Oooh! And what's that?!..." only to be informed that she had uncovered that rarest of deep-sea creatures - a bubble!
After around an hour at the observatory, we were taken back to port by a second ship (passing the impressive Lady Bowen Falls on the way), then set off on the long drive back towards Queenstown. On the way we side-tracked up the Hollyford spur road for lunch and a shortish walk up to Humboldt Falls (apparently the highest near a road in Australasia), and pulled over by the road to look at Mirror Lakes and Te Anau Downs (amongst other viewpoints). All in all, a more stately pace saw us back near Queenstown and parked up in a lay-by near the skydive airstrip by around 6:30. We ate dinner and settled in for a warm, humid night and mental preparation for our second attempt at a skydive the next morning.
