The two and a half hour drive from Te Anau to the Milford Sound matched our expectations from fellow travellers: overwhelmingly high reviews. The ever winding road led us between walls of steep rock cliffs (watch out for tree avalanches), up and over rolling rivers, past tranquil “mirror” lakes, alongside rushing waterfalls, and through a mountain tunnel where we reached the famous waterway.
We leisurely cruised around the sound for an hour - and especially enjoyed sidling up to a waterfall (free shower!) and surreptitiously gawking at the Gucci-clad Japanese entourage that spent the entire cruise taking self portraits. However, we had to concede that the spectacular car journey to the sound overshadowed the actual destination.
The next day a tour agent sweet talked us into a second cruise, this time an overnight on the Doubtful Sound (ten times larger than Milford with significantly fewer tourists). With high hopes, we embarked upon a one hour jaunt over Lake Manapouri to the hydro power plant (or in the words of Ken, “that’s the end of the dam(n) tour”). We then boarded a 45 minute bus ride over a desolate mountain pass to the sea channel. The sandfly infestation (those blood-sucking pests) would have gotten the best of us had it not been for our high priced, non-toxic spray and the ever fashionable “pants-rolled-into-our-socks” look.
About 50 guests then clamored onto the larger cruise ship, which ferried us out to the Tasman Sea. We weren’t sure how Phil maneuvered it (charming lawyerly persuasion?), but the staff upgraded us from a four-person, lower deck room to two double rooms overlooking the sea. Ken and I twirled around our spacious 160 square feet of freedom, basking in our good fortune (not that we didn’t want to bunk with our loving family members, but after living in Big Green... our own room was pure extravagance).
Phil, Tanya, and Ken delighted in kayaking along the calm water’s edge and watching fur seals, “whilst” I played paparazzi (just had to throw that term in somewhere). Our relaxed evening proceedings included penguin sightings, substantial overeating (it was a cruise after all), and a rousing game of Uno con White Wine. The following morning we returned safely to civilization (Queenstown) where we polished off gluttonous Fergburgers before journeying north.
Lessons learned in Fiordland:
- Tanya can pop a squat anywhere
- Hillary’s driving is just bad enough to make Tanya nauseous but not enough to vomit
- Duck is to water as Phil is to kayak
- Ken is the Captain of his own ship
- Big Green maxes out at 30 km/hour when transporting four Altmann’s up the mountain
- And for those trivia junkies: there are 60 million sheep, 20 million possum, and four million people in New Zealand! Sweet as!
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