Saturday, November 14 - Milford Sound

Saturday we woke quite early as we had a 4-5 hour drive ahead of us before catching an 11:45 sailing in Milford Sound down in Fiordlands National Park. The trip went fairly quick as the scenery was more and more stunning as we got closer to the Sound. However, as we came to the final pass before our descent to Milford, the rain began to fall. It was fairly light, but by the time we departed on the boat, it was raining heavily and did so for most of the 3 hour cruise. Regardless, the scenery was magnificent as the mountains that surround the Sound all had steady waterfalls throughout them. Most of these fell directly in to the water and different levels of the falls could be traced all of the way to the clouds which were settled about 2/3 the way up the mountains due to the rain.

After reading more about the area, we realized that it might keep raining for quite some time as the Milford area is a rainforest and gets about 276 inches of rain per year. Even with the rain, we still saw rare penguins and seals that are only found in this area of the world. At one point, the captain even steered the vessel underneath one of the falls. Given that the temperature was below 60 degrees, only one person from the entire boat stayed out to experience this. The last highlight was a stop at an underwater observatory that allows you to see some of the unique underwater life that resides in the Sounds of the Fiordlands.

Once we arrived back at the docks, we decided to go ahead and check in to the river side chalet that we had rented for the evening to wait out some of the rain. The lodge that hosts these chalets specializes in serving backpackers. It came complete with a few wings of dorm rooms that have communal bathroom facilities and a main guest kitchen where many groups from many nations gather in the evening to prepare their meals. We were very pleasantly surprised to find the chalets very comfortable with amazing views of the river. As we waited out the weather, it ended up raining so hard for such a long period that we actually watched the river in front of us rise about 2 feet.

The rain never stopped, but we made the most of it watching the river run and catching a movie in the room. Then it was time to cook the steaks that we had purchased from the super market in Te Anau. To our surprise, there was no cooktop in the chalet, so I was off to the main buildings in the rain to cook the meal in the community kitchen. This was quite an experience and I enjoyed my time in there with a group of Spaniards and they helped me with a couple of the nuances and tricks that it took to make the gas burners work.