Let's talk about fiords
Trip Start
Jan 31, 2012
1
5
7
Trip End
Feb 24, 2012
Te Anau, South Island, New Zealand
Sunday, February 12, 2012
We spent our last few days in Te Anau exploring Doubtful and Milford Sound. However, neither of these is a true "Sound." Sounds, as it turns out are carved by rivers. These are fiords, carved by glaciers. So the sounds in the fiordlands are fiords; distinguished by their "U" shaped valleys. Also, the mountains are hard granite (and other) rocks that rise almost vertically from the water. Yet they're covered in trees! Mosses grow on the rocks, providing an anchor for ferns and other small plants, which in turn provide anchor points for trees. Everyone has very shallow roots to collect all the rainwater that can't be absorbed by the hard rocks. However, from time to time a tree will come loose and take down everyone beneath it in a "tree avalanche." So the large blank strips of rock that you see are the results of avalanches. And finally, all the water on the surface is essentially fresh rain water that came running down the rocks (it rains a lot in the fiordlands). It sets up a boundary layer with the salt water below, but is very dark from all the tanins it picks up from the trees. Very little light makes it through the surface, making marine life think it's living quite a bit deeper than it really is. As a result, you get a lot of cool 'deep sea' creatures such as black corals and sea pens living within SCUBA distance of the surface.
Okay now you're up to snuff with the basics on fiords. Our friend Anna Kate (from grade school, now living in Wanaka) suggested we check out Doubtful Sound as it was less crowded than Milford. Excellent call because it was stunning! We were hoping to kayak it, but unless you're going to camp overnight, kayaking gets you to very little of the Sound. So we joined the tour bus across Lake Manapouri where we visited the Manapouri Power Station. Stopher was in engineering heaven. I was trying to not panic from the drive through the deep bore tunnel into the mountains! After that was a bus over Wilmot Pass, and finally down to Deep Cove at Doubtful, at which point we began the tour. Everywhere we looked was another post card. We sailed straight out to the Tasman Sea, visited some fur seals, then came back in to see some bottlenose dolphins (tricky to photograph with a phone!). The highlight was when the captain turned off the engine of the boat and you could just enjoy the area in all it's grandeur.
The next morning, we got up early to drive 2h through the mountains to Milford Sound. We caught the sunrise and setting moon on the way. At the Milford Lodge, we met up with our guide Jimmy from Roscoe's Kayaks and set out to kayak in Milford. We also met a guy from Yakima, WA! Jimmy got us fully suited up in sexy striped thermals, kayak skirts, and rain jackets (there wasn't a cloud in the sky). Since we didn't want to drive up there at 430am, we couldn't paddle all the way to the Tasman, though as I'm getting over a shoulder injury that worked out just fine. Our group of 4 double kayaks hitched a water taxi ride just past Stirling Falls. We set in, and started working our way back to the boat launch. First up, the highlight. Jimmy had us all paddle into, and under the falls! It was incredible! The wind and power coming off those falls propels you like a piece of paper. And we were really happy to have those rain coats! From there we hugged the wall of the rocks and realized just how vertical the walls of the fiords really were. We came across several areas where the fur seals were lounging, and were able to get within a couple meters of them. Next up was Bowen falls which was a little less accessible than Stirling, but no less stunning. Finally we paddled through some grasses and turquoise waters back to the launch. My shoulder was fried, but it was well worth it. On the drive back to Te Anau, we made a couple stops, meeting a couple Kea birds. Alpine parrots.... yes really. We also checked out the crazy rock formations and waterfalls at The Chasm. I think we were both in bed by 9pm.
Our last day in the fiordlands were a little calmer. Our hosts were kind enough to loan us a couple of bikes to go for a ride along the shores of Lake Te Anau. This is when I learned that not only are the cars backwards over here, but the bicycle brakes! We just rode for a bit, enjoyed a picnic by the beach, and returned the bikes... cause we wanted to do a little hiking too. We decided to take a little walk along the Kepler Track, which is one of the "Great Tracks" in the area. This means you take several days, hiking from hut to hut, to finish the trail. We just went a little ways in, but still had loads of beautiful beech forests and a couple suspension bridges to enjoy.
And so concludes our week in the fiordlands! We had a terrific time and highly recommend it to anyone coming this way. Next up, we'll be heading back north to visit in Wanaka for a couple days. Wine country is calling!
Comments
Sounds so great... giving me the travel itch for sure!