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Driving from Queenstown to the southern end of the south island met with overcast weather. One distinct thing I noticed the entire trip was that any cloud coverage was always really low. This gave a neat effect where the tips of the mountains were lost in the foggy clouds.
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The south island is not very populated at all. Little 'towns' here and there frequently had a cafe and a few small businesses at most. This one had a 'hotel' with cafe, a small antique gallery and a few other buildings.
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An hour into the drive, the clouds dropped farther down.
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One of the reasons NZ is so 'green', is that vegetation grows up the mountains to the top. It also grows on very steep, rocky sides like this.
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Like the Rockies, snow was visible even in the summer.
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This picture does not do the water justice. It was a brilliant emerald green.
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On the way to Milford Sound, there is a tunnel about 25 minutes out. It is narrow, so traffic can only flow one way. There are 15 minute periods where the traffic alternates. We had plenty of time before our cruise tour, so we stopped at the parking lot and took a walk. This picture only shows the waterfall we were walking to. Subsequent pictures will show why it was so neat and a destination. The walk began with hiking on a regular trail, then traversing a huge expanse of loose rocks and boulders (some 4x bigger than me).
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A better idea of the rocks you had to walk through to get closer.
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Glacier! Notice on the bottom right, there is a small arch and opening.
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This picture puts the waterfall's size in better perspective.
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And this picture puts the size of the glacier in better perspective.
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Look closely and you can see the parking lot, with the tunnel just up and to the right. It was a healthy walk, especially given the terrain.
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As we were pulling out, I noticed an odd bird roaming the lot. This is a Kea, one of the native NZ birds. This fine creature was being re-introduced into the wilderness. Instead of leaving, he decided to roam the parking lot in search of anyone that would give him food.
This picture amuses me as the guy with the camera has no idea there is a great bird so close to him.
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Oh, hi!
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He was coming right for us. Unfortunately, I had no snacks to share with him so he wandered off quickly.
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We took a 2 hour cruise through the Milford Sound. As i wrote about, it isn't really a sound, it is a fjord, but apparently that doesn't have the same ring to it. Actually, the person who discovered it did not realize it was a fjord, and the name stuck.
We saw two colonies of seals on the cruise and got really close to them. Unfortunately, I visited about a month before the Yellow-eyed Penguin colony returned to nest.
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We were there at the end of a small drought, so there were only 15 or so waterfalls. When it rains considerably, they number in the hundreds. Some are really small run-off points, but I bet it is an entirely different experience.
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A couple of the waterfalls come out from the wall far enough to allow the boats to get right up next to them. People at the bow were soaked.
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The mineral deposits along the water line were interesting. There was a whole story about it, the kinds of minerals and more. Unfortunately, I forget the details.
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This picture, and the next two, are a great 'action' shot of the seal getting up on the rock to find a resting spot.
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With the trees growing off the side of the mountain in a very thin layer of soil, 'tree slides' are common. We passed one that was slowly recovering and growing back. Apparently, it happened 70 years before.
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The M.V. Sinbad, our tour cruise ship.
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At first, the weather was a bit ominous. Ok, it was pretty scary..
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Doing a tour by plane was the other way to see the area.
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This gives a little better perspective on the size of the cliffs and waterfalls.
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This is the result of a 'tree slide'. Since there is a very thin lair of soil, when a slide happens due to excessive rain, only trees, dirt and rocks tumble down. It takes up to 100 years to recover.
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It got a bit windy at points..
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With the lack of rainfall recently, some of the waterfalls were pretty small.
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Even on the steep rock wall, greenery..
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Very neat rock formations and history. Definitely a small part of the tour that would appeal to geologists.
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BIRD
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This is a neat waterfall, with the cascading effect and water pouring down straight as well.
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Not just a source of water, this is a major fault line in the area.
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Most were sunning (despite the lack of sun), a few of them were swimming.
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Neat when a picture seems to be taken in black & white, but isn't.
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