Day 166 - Milford Sound, New Zealand
Day 166 – 21st November 2005 +13:00 GMT Total Miles 29307
Had to be out of our room by 10am so we handed back the key and loaded up the car, we then took a drive into Milford Sound and had a short walk along the lake and read that the homer tunnel was started in 1931 with pick axes and it only got to its present state in 1991.
View from Milford Sound
View from Milford Sound
The weather was a lot better this morning so we drove back towards the homer tunnel stopping off at view points to take photo’s. We stopped at a 300m chasm which we walked around and took some photo’s.
A Kea in the Car Park
A Kea
A Kea
The Fiord is much more impressive just after it has stopped raining as thousands of waterfalls appear along the cliff faces.
Milford Sound
We then went back to the lodge and sat in the lounge for 3 hours reading before making our way to the Milford Café for some food. The food was extortionate but it is the only place to eat for 180km. We meet up with Ibon our Spanish friend who’s backpack we had transported from Queenstown and then checked in at the ferry terminal. We had booked ourselves on an overnight boat trip around the Fiord, we choose a small boat that only carried 12 overnight as we did not want to be with huge crowds of people. The boat set sail at 4:30pm and we spent a couple of hours sailing around the Fiords be amazed at the cliff faces which some are over 1000 metres high.
Me on the Boat
A 158m Waterfall
Milford Sound Fiord
There were several waterfalls which are over 50 storeys high yet look as if they are just a few metres.
Waterfalls
Waterfalls
Milford Sound Fiord
Milford Sound Fiord
Milford Sound Fiord (see the boat in the very centre at the bottom for a perspective on size)
Milford Sound Fiord
Milford Sound Fiord
We saw several seals and a snow crest penguin in the Fiord.The Snow Crest Penguin is the rarest penguin in the world with less than 2000 remaining.
Snow Crest Penguin
Snow Crest Penguin
Fur Seals
Fur Seals
We sailed out into the Tasman sea for a bit then started to sail back. Now whilst we had been sailing the captain had been running around like crazy and it turned out the generator had failed, so the captain gave us a choice we can either stay on the little boat but they can’t heat any of the food, we keep losing the lighting and we can’t have hot drinks and can’t flush the toilets. The other option was to move to a different boat which happened to be the first class boat, where we each get a private cabin with en-suite bathrooms, we get a 4 course dinner and a few activities, now we paid $160 for our trip and the other boat was around $500. Everyone on our boat decided to leave so the captain gave us 3 bottles of wine to apologise and called the other boat who sent out a tender craft to pick us up.
The Mariner the 1st Class Boat
The Friendship
We got aboard the boat and were each dished out our keys for our cabins. We then had hors d’oeuvres in the front lounge followed by dinner, we first had two choices of soup then we had a carvery followed by a table full of desserts and then cheese and tea and coffee. Since we had missed our chance earlier to go Kayaking they agreed to take us out straight after lunch so 7 of us went out kayaking around the bay where we were anchored and we saw a few penguins on the shore.
Us Kayaking
Me Kayaking
We were out for about 40 minutes and when we returned they started a star gazing talk, so they pointed out all the stars and planets that were in the night sky.
A Photo of the Planet Venus over the Mountains
We then sat around and chatted for a while and had a few drinks before going to sleep in our cabins.
Had to be out of our room by 10am so we handed back the key and loaded up the car, we then took a drive into Milford Sound and had a short walk along the lake and read that the homer tunnel was started in 1931 with pick axes and it only got to its present state in 1991.
View from Milford Sound
View from Milford Sound
The weather was a lot better this morning so we drove back towards the homer tunnel stopping off at view points to take photo’s. We stopped at a 300m chasm which we walked around and took some photo’s.
A Kea in the Car Park
A Kea
A Kea
The Fiord is much more impressive just after it has stopped raining as thousands of waterfalls appear along the cliff faces.
Milford Sound
We then went back to the lodge and sat in the lounge for 3 hours reading before making our way to the Milford Café for some food. The food was extortionate but it is the only place to eat for 180km. We meet up with Ibon our Spanish friend who’s backpack we had transported from Queenstown and then checked in at the ferry terminal. We had booked ourselves on an overnight boat trip around the Fiord, we choose a small boat that only carried 12 overnight as we did not want to be with huge crowds of people. The boat set sail at 4:30pm and we spent a couple of hours sailing around the Fiords be amazed at the cliff faces which some are over 1000 metres high.
Me on the Boat
A 158m Waterfall
Milford Sound Fiord
There were several waterfalls which are over 50 storeys high yet look as if they are just a few metres.
Waterfalls
Waterfalls
Milford Sound Fiord
Milford Sound Fiord
Milford Sound Fiord (see the boat in the very centre at the bottom for a perspective on size)
Milford Sound Fiord
Milford Sound Fiord
We saw several seals and a snow crest penguin in the Fiord.The Snow Crest Penguin is the rarest penguin in the world with less than 2000 remaining.
Snow Crest Penguin
Snow Crest Penguin
Fur Seals
Fur Seals
We sailed out into the Tasman sea for a bit then started to sail back. Now whilst we had been sailing the captain had been running around like crazy and it turned out the generator had failed, so the captain gave us a choice we can either stay on the little boat but they can’t heat any of the food, we keep losing the lighting and we can’t have hot drinks and can’t flush the toilets. The other option was to move to a different boat which happened to be the first class boat, where we each get a private cabin with en-suite bathrooms, we get a 4 course dinner and a few activities, now we paid $160 for our trip and the other boat was around $500. Everyone on our boat decided to leave so the captain gave us 3 bottles of wine to apologise and called the other boat who sent out a tender craft to pick us up.
The Mariner the 1st Class Boat
The Friendship
We got aboard the boat and were each dished out our keys for our cabins. We then had hors d’oeuvres in the front lounge followed by dinner, we first had two choices of soup then we had a carvery followed by a table full of desserts and then cheese and tea and coffee. Since we had missed our chance earlier to go Kayaking they agreed to take us out straight after lunch so 7 of us went out kayaking around the bay where we were anchored and we saw a few penguins on the shore.
Us Kayaking
Me Kayaking
We were out for about 40 minutes and when we returned they started a star gazing talk, so they pointed out all the stars and planets that were in the night sky.
A Photo of the Planet Venus over the Mountains
We then sat around and chatted for a while and had a few drinks before going to sleep in our cabins.
posted by Simon at 4:44 PM
2 Comments:
I'm really impressed with Venus, but Dad says you could have made it up!
Venus is the brightest star visible from New Zealand, and it is the first star to appear at night. You can also see Mecury but it is not very bright.
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