The alarm went off at 5.45, and I got up and ready for the day. I noticed a sign in the kitchen that asked people to dy up after themselves, and that after recent events they had started using CCTV to ind out who was leaving messes to be able to chuck them out of the hostel!
I made it to the bus stop with what I thought was plenty of time to spare, but I found that there was a huge crowd around the bus, with the driver constantly having to tell people that if they were going on the Great Sights bus, they were at the wrong place
I was at the right place though, and I managed to load up my kit and find a nice seat half way between the wheels for a nice comfortable ride
The guy I was sitting next to was from Meins, near Frankfurt, and had been unable to get accomodation in Milford Sound so was just doing a day tour - bus in, 2 hour boat trip - bus out. I managed to impress him by identifying that he was from the middle of Germany, by his accent not being North or Saxony!
The bus itself had to do 3 sides of a rectangle to get to Milford Sound from Queenstown, due to he Alpine mountains in the way, so our first stop was at Te Anau, at the bottom of the first side. The views up to hat point had been so spectacular that I didn't bother trying to write up the previous day's journal, and just soaked it all in.
Close to the start we were advised about a bridge that we crossed being used as a damn to try and empty the river bed and enable people to just grab the gold nuggets they suspected were at the bottom, based on the gold rush which started Queenstown off in the first place. Of course, nature had other ideas, and the rivers downstream backflowed up the riverbed so they never did get to dry land!
By the time we hit Te Anau, the rain had started in earnest, and so there was not much that could be seen out the windows. The stop in Te Anau did have some views that I tried to capture but I'm not sure how well they came out.
The next stop was at a location called "Mirror lakes", where on a good calm day, there is a series of lakes that are so flat, that they reflect the mountains really nicely, but it was raining, so nobody saw anything. I decided to stay on the bus at that point because I had not realised there would be stops where we all went for walks, so left my waterproofs in my main rucksack which was in the boot of the bus.
We went onwards, and the driver pointed out a sign showing that we were crossing the 45°reee; south lattitude marker at 11 O'Clock, before we made another stop at Knobs flat, though this was just for a toilet break - probably the only toilet break location in New Zealand that doesn't have a gift shop attached to it!
The driver explained to us about hw the road is often blocked to Milford sound, sometimes by rock falls, or avalanches. He then explained about tree avalanches, which re caused because the trees that grow on the steep cliffs in the area do not get strong hold of the rock and instead use each others' roots to support themselves as they grow, and in a storm a tree might fall, and if it does it takes all the rest of that section th it.
We had made reasonable time and so when we came to a car park full of busses, the driver decided it might be a treat for us to get a photo opportunity with a Kea - these are mischievous parrots that like to destroy everything around them - there are many stories of Keas taking all the rubber out from around people's windscrens, or taking all the stuffing out of somebody's bike.
There was a Kea strutting around the car park, not really minding all the tourist attention, indeed, it seemed to be enjoying it - though it was rather damp, and it did look a bit bedraggled!
We soon approached Homer Tunnel, which is 1.3km long and has a 1:10 gradient down - it is traffic light controlled now, as most of the modern busses that go through it only fit one wide
Out of the other end and we stopped at a water feature called the Chasm at 12.05pm. For this one I decided it was worth gong out, so I got my waterproof out of the rucksack from the boot of the bus, and wandered along the board walk with everyone else - I don't think I've seen so many umbrellas in a confined space as that before!
The driver then went on to ask a question that I would be asked many times after that - the difference between a 'Sound' and a 'Fjord', the former being a river valley that has been flooded by the sea, and the latter being a glacier carved valley flooded by the sea. This technically would make Milford Sound wrong, as it should be Milford Fjord, but it was actually originally named Milford Haven by the person who discovered it, so I think that name should stick instead!
We reached the port at about 12.35pm which was plenty of time for me to get to the lodge andsort out my bags ready for some Kayak adventures
I applied some of the insect repellent I had bought in Queenstown as I soon realised that the warning about sandflies was not an exagerration - like fruit fly sized mosquitos!
I was picked up at the lodge by the Kayak guide Nick, and taken to Deep Basin where I met the other 6 brave souls who had bought this adventure.
We were all kitted out with warm clothes and waterproofs and headed out to the Tasman Sea by speed boat.
We kayaked the 8.8 miles back to Deep Water basin, hugging the southern coastline of the fjord, getting up close and personal to all of the waterfalls. Because it had been raining so much, all of the waterfalls were spectacular - one thing about Milford Sound is that it rains 200 days a year, but all the photos and post cards you see are of it being sunny. Having said that, ost of the waterfalls are not there on a sunny day, so this was the best weather for the kayak tour!
Each Kayak was a 2 person sea kayak with a rudder, and since the other 6 were already here as pairs, Nick was the person in charge of steering the Kayak that I was in.
As such, he personally made sure that we went underneath every single water fall that we passed - which was pretty exhilerating - it's not something you normally consider, but it gets very windy at the bottom of a water fall, so it's quite hard to reach the actual landing spot, but wind and water spray straight off the mountains, is good!
We made it back to deep basin around 7.20pm, and went to the 'transformation tent' to change back in to our normal gear. There was a pretty impressive gas heater in the tent which looked like a jet with an afterburner going, and it was certainly effective at warming the tent up!
One of the couples had brought a go pro, and so took my email address so I could receive any videos that came out of the trip - I hadn't been able to really take any photos, due to the fact that it was raining, and the mist made the more spectacular stuff impossible to photograph!
As Nick drove me back up to the lodge, he advised about the Lady bowen falls, and it having the Maori 'Te Pohu Te Kereru' which means 'Breast of the Woodpigeon'
I was back at the lodge for 8, and since I had a full day the next day, decided to fork out for a meal in the cafe instead of student rations.
I enjoyed a delicious Venison and Beef casserole, washed down with a Mischievous Kea beer from the Altitude brewing company.
At the recommendation of the waiter, I followed that up with a Piopiotahi from the same company, which can only be bought in Milford Sound Lodge
There was a Spanish group behind me with birthday person, and as I went to the room to get some well earned rest, I discovered that they were the people I was sharing the dorm with, so we exchanged pleasantries and then fell asleep