Milford Sound

Milford Sound is really quite an amazing place.  Incredibly remote, beautiful sights, lots of German and Japanese tourists..  what else could you ask for?

I woke up early, had yet another amazing shower (I would not usually be mentioning my showers, but after you don't shower for 4 days..  and sweat a lot..  the first couple showers you have are incredible.  If Shakespeare walked the Milford Track he would likely write a sonnet or two about his first shower afterwards..  or maybe a poem?  or a tragedy?  or whatever the hell Shakespeare wrote..  either way, my two showers in Milford Sound were AMAZING)

I had a scenic cruise booked for 1pm so I made my way towards the cafe (which is close to the dock), and ate a GIANT lunch..  Seriously..  that was just way too much food..  I was hungry, but I could not devour the amount of food that was put in front of me by the cute Spanish girl who thought I was way younger than I am..  What?  I am getting a bit off track here, sorry, I am still a bit out of it after all that walking.

The scenic cruise was great.  There were WAY TOO MANY Japanese tourists on the boat with me, and after a penguin was spotted (just ONE penguin) on the shore they all went apeshit..  and one of them had GIANT binoculars..  seriously, those things must have been at least half a metre in length.  And here I am getting off track again.  The boat takes you to the Tasman sea (across which are a bunch of Australians or something), and back.  It takes about an hour and 40 minutes, passes by Mitre peak (highest peak in the area), a couple waterfalls, a couple seals, and a bunch of other cool stuff.  I took a LOT of pictures.

After the cruise I took a walk on the lakeside trail - I think that's what it was called anyway.  It takes you from the harbour to the airport, and passes by a lot of great spots from which you can take pictures of Milford Sound and Mitre peak.  So I did!  I wish I could show them to you now.  Later!

Ok, I'm getting a bit incoherent here, so I will depart you for now.  Tomorrow (Thursday the 2nd of dec.) I am taking an early bus to the Divide (through the Homer tunnel), to the start of the Routeburn Track.  On december 4th another bus picks me up at the end of the track and takes me to Queenstown (look at the map I posted way back if you want to get a better idea of what I'm talking about here)

The Routeburn track is quite different from the Milford Track.  While the Milford Track takes you through a valley (aside from the 1 alpine pass), the Routeburn track is a steady climb on day 1, and then a day and a half or so of hiking ON mountains, as opposed to beside them.  It's about 33km long, and its lowest elevation is about 500m - the highest being 1255m (Harris Saddle).  Most people also do this track the opposite direction of what I'm doing - so I can forget having cool hiking buddies this time around..  It should be a totally different experience from the Milford Track, but one likely equally amazing in scenery and adventure.

I will write again from Queenstown, on December 4th or 5th!