beJuly 26 Our bus left for Milford Sound that morning at 8:45. The landscape was gorgeous; there were mountains, lakes, creeks, forests, waterfalls, and more. Our bus driver and guide talked the whole way there about the land, conservation, and history. We took a few stops for shorts walks or Kodak moments. Our first stop was in a valley with a beautiful view of surrounding mountains. We also stopped by a chasm with churning waters flowing through. It was pretty cool to see how deep and fast the water was as it flowed under the bridge. Mirror Lake was our next break to see how the lake reflected the mountains behind it. It was somewhat windy at first, so the reflection wasn’t the best, but we went to a different part of the lake and saw an awesome reflection. It was crazy how much it looked real. It reminded me of a Bob Ross painting. The road to Milford Sound had recently been closed, so we got pretty lucky we got there safely despite the “Avalanche Zone” and “Black Ice” signs. When we arrived, we got our tickets and lunch vouchers and headed for the ship. We went straight to the top of the boat to see an incredible view. There were huge mountains everywhere and a big waterfall. We could see down the fiord towards the ocean. Once we left the dock, it surprised me how fast we were moving through the water. One of the first things that happened was we saw a pod of dolphins not far away. They drove the boat towards them, and the dolphins must’ve liked our boat because they stuck around for a while. We were on the front of the boat looking over the railing at the dolphins swimming at the same speed as the boat. They were jumping out of the water at us for quite a while. It was crazy, and it reminded me again of why I like dolphins so much. They’re so majestic, graceful, social, and playful. It looked like they were having a great time showing off for us. There were more swimming along the side of the boat. I thought I got a video, but turns out it didn’t work L. Next, we headed from the lake part to the river part of the fiord. We went down one side and back closer to the other. The mountains were really steep because of the glaciers that formed them. It’s hard for me to describe the feeling I had being surrounded by that immense amount of beauty that God has created. It was intense and hard to take it all in. I hope to remember that feeling forever and experience it again. The views the whole time were amazing. Once we got to the ocean, we turned around to go back. The turn was pretty rough from the waves since it was the open ocean beyond. The view of Milford Sound from the ocean was really unique and awe-striking. By this point, however, Kiley and I were extremely cold. We decided to head inside to get our lunches from Pita Pit. Our wraps were good and filling. We could see well from the inside but decided to go back outside when we got close to the waterfall. We could feel the mist and were almost under the falls at one point. Nearby, we went past some seal pups sunning themselves on some rocks, and they were adorable. The whole cruise was breathtaking. When we got back, we boarded the bus for the ride back to Te Anau. We stopped by a lake to see the misty mountains and crystal clear water. We also rested at a creek so people could fill their water bottles with glacier water. Everyone got pretty sleepy on the ride back. Constant transportation has a way of making even the most well rested, alert people really tired. We got back to our hostel with about an hour until our bus ride to Queenstown. This bus ride was in the dark, so there wasn’t much to see. We got to the middle of town and got wrong directions to our hostel from our driver. However, we got the right directions from the wrong hostel. It was about a 20 minute walk in the rain with our stuff to YHA Lakefront Hostel. We got to our hostel tired and a little wet, but we were glad to be settled. We headed to a lounge area with bean bags to figure out what to do the next day. We knew it had to be something more affordable since we had spent unexpected money on the cruise that day. We looked for some good hiking trails in the winter and found a few short hikes along with the Queenstown Gardens. We made a general plan for part of the day and tried to get some sleep despite our roommates coming in late and leaving early to hit the slopes for some skiing and snowboarding. P.S. sorry about my glove in lots of the Go Pro videos...still getting the hang of that thing ;)
1 Comment
Stacey
8/10/2016 05:54:38 am
Love this! Sounds and looks like a blast! Thanks for sharing!
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