New Zealand Adventures: The 8th Wonder of the World

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

As with most countries of the world, there are places labeled as "must sees" by both the locals and the visitors. In New Zealand there is a list of "101 must-do's for New Zealanders" and #16 and #26 both are in Fjordland. After the last two days, we can see why these places are on the list.

Fjordland is the southwestern corner of the South Island and is now a national park. It is remote and rugged but visited by thousands who come by bus, car, plane, boat and on foot to see the wonders of this place. It's ironic that Captain James Cook had a chance to become one of the first outsiders to Milford Sound, but he didn't see the opening from out there on the Tasman Sea and boated on by. He is credited with seeing the beauty of the place back in 1770 on one of his voyages of discovery.

Maori legend says that the gods carved out deep canyons into the coastal mountains, beginning to the south and moving northward. There are 14 such fjords over a space of 200 km of coastline. That's over 100 miles of coast and the sheer granite mountains rise straight up from the sea to a height of some 2700 meters (almost 9,000 feet). The total area is nearly 3 million acres, making it a little larger than Yellowstone Park in the U.S. By the time whoever was doing the carving got to the north end of the area they were getting to be real creative and the northernmost fjord, today known as Milford, turned out to be the most beautiful. Today it is also the most popular when it comes to visitors.

So we decided many months ago, this was one place we didn't want to miss. The question was not 'if' but 'how' and 'when.' Those who walk to Milford spend three or four days getting there, staying overnight in "huts" maintained by the park service. You can drive your car and there is lodging at the end of the road, but it is a one-way road and very few services at the end. Most come in by tour bus and we were among those who booked a tour out of TeAnau, the nearest city. Sitting in a bus was a new experience for me, after sitting behind the driver's wheel for over a week. The driver was informative and the bus was not crowded. We stopped several times along the four hour drive, with great views of streams, mountains and rainforest. The final descent took us through a tunnel and down to the Sound.

The driver pointed out that the word "sound" is really a misnomer. It should be called Milford Fjord, since it is a deep canyon carved by glaciers and the water is saltwater from the sea. We arrived at around 4:00 pm and boarded our overnight cruise ship a half hour later. There were about 50 of us booked on "The Mariner" and another 30 or so rode on a sister ship, "The Wanderer."

After getting oriented to the ship and safety procedures, we set off on an hour-long cruise towards the Tasman. It's easy to see who Milford Sound is so popular. There were people on board from many countries and all were awed by the scenes which unfolded before us. Mitre Peak is the icon - a tall mountain shaped like a bishop's headgear jutted up from the water. Beyond were snow-capped peaks of the Southern Alps and countless waterfalls cascading over cliffs and downward. The sights are too numerous to describe with words. Hopefully, there will be photos and videos added to this page to give better meaning.

We anchored in a small protected bay and then were given opportunity to get out into the Sea either individually in kayaks or in small groups in 12-person motor craft. We opted for the latter and saw seals, fishing boats, and imagined looking across the Tasman Sea to Sydney, Australia, a thousand miles away.

We returned to The Mariner in time for a great buffet dinner, some light entertainment and then settling in for the night in our cabin. The water was very calm and the only annoyance was the engine room next door to us where a motor hummed all night to keep the generators working. The next morning it was more great food for breakfast and the ship made a quick trip out to deeper waters before turning around and heading back to port. Along the way we waved at occupants of two large ocean-going cruise ships which had also spent the night in the Sound. We got back to the dock at around 9:30 am.

Most of those on board returned to either Queenstown or TeAnau by bus. We elected to fly back to TeAnau in a small five seater Cessna operated by Fjordland Airlines. The flight was s stunning finale as we flew past some of the peaks we had seen from sea level. Our pilot was a young Amelia Earhart, who skillfully took us up and up and then gently down to TeAnau International. She tied the plane down (literally) and drove us back to town in her company station wagon.

If you are coming to New Zealand, Milford will be here waiting for you.