AHHH… we missed a day! We are going to combine our two days into one since we were primarily at one place anyways. On Wednesday (your election Tuesday) we took off for Milford Sound (in Fiordland National Park).
To actually get into the park it took about 2 hours from Queenstown and once in the park it took almost another two hours just to get to Milford Sound because the roads are winding, bridges where only one car can pass at a time, and then one of the most mind blowing tunnels we’ve ever seen.
This guy is called a Kea, and they like to steal your things and try to pry their way into your car windows. One of the only (the only?) alpine parrots in the world.
To actually get into the park it took about 2 hours from Queenstown and once in the park it took almost another two hours just to get to Milford Sound because the roads are winding, bridges where only one car can pass at a time, and then one of the most mind blowing tunnels we’ve ever seen. The Homer Tunnel was carved out by men during the Great Depression so people could get to Milford Sound more easily. The two hours driving in the park was incredible. At Mt. Cook we drove to pretty much the beginning of where the mountains were starting but in Fiordland we were driving amongst the mountains. We were also lucky because it had rained a lot the previous day so there were countless waterfalls that aren’t always there.
One of the entrances to the mile long Homer Tunnel.
The Homer Tunnel is about one mile long.
Once we got to Milford we did a couple of short hikes just around the Sound. There unfortunately aren’t too many hikes right at Milford Sound because you are surrounded by cliffs so all the hikes are back through the tunnel which is 30 minutes away. We walked around the non-existent town of Milford and just ate our lodge (there’s only two places to stay in the town). This is also where we received election updates from the staff because they were the only ones with internet. We intended to stay in but once the results were final we decided to go have a couple of beers while looking at what some call the 8th Wonder of the World.
We woke up early yesterday morning because we had a reservation for sea kayaking on The Sound. When we sit down and make a top 5 list of things we did while on this trip, this will make it. Another thing that can’t be described and pictures won’t do it justice. The most amazing part was just how large everything was and when we were actually on the water was when you felt it most. Little planes that take people to glaciers for scenic flights would take off and the plane would just be a tiny speck with mountains in the background. At one point we saw a waterfall and it didn’t look too large or far away but our guide asked us to guess how far and were amazed to learn that it was 9 miles away and is 50 stories high.
Fun Fact- It was also the waterfall that Hugh Jackman jumps off of in Wolverine even though no one actually jumped from it because it’s 50 stories high and just like if someone jumps off of a 50 story building…..
We got the opportunity to see a penguin, a seal up close, and some pretty cool birds. Another fun part of the kayak trip was our guide, J.D. J.D. was your stereotypical kayaking guide that lives in a town with no internet and does kayaking trips everyday. When we got out on the water he asked us where we were from and when we told him Iowa, he said “Sweet as, I am from outside of Cedar Falls”. “Sweet as” is apparently a phrase that a lot of Kiwis use over here we have learned, and J.D. said it maybe 450 times. So we talked for pretty much our entire 4 hour kayaking trip about how he got to Milford, Iowa stuff, election stuff, and everything in between. Overall, it was a great time and a good workout as well.
That hairy man in the back of this kayak is JD.
After kayaking we made our way back to Queenstown and went back to our favorite park to have a couple of beers, relax, and read because the weather has been FANTASTIC! Also, apparently it rains more than 200 days a year in Milford Sound and both days for us were great. Today we have our last long drive ahead of us to the Franz Josef Glacier.
P.S. Yesterday Caitlin saw two Americans going door to door in Queenstown asking if they have any job openings.