The glorious clear weather continued today. We had been worried about rain here at Milford Sound where we've learned they typically receive almost 10 meters (30 ft) of rain each year! That's a crazy amount. Apparently, just this past January, there were twenty-six days of rain. Wow, we definitely lucked out today.
I took a quick run over to the sound and the small parking lot and ferry terminal this morning. As is often the case, by the time we packed up from the campsite, drove the kilometer and parked, we were already short on time so found ourselves running along the walking paths to the ferry building -- not the first time! Whew, we made it just as passengers were loading. Our double decker boat carried about fifty passengers, but there was ample room to find a spot up against one of the railings. Though we'd brought coats and rain jackets, the warm sun made those almost unnecessary.
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| Early morning view of Mitre Peak and Milford Sound |
The captain and tour guide gave us lots of information about the area. The waterway is not technically a sound but a fjord, which connects to the ocean and was carved by massive glaciers during the last ice age (sounds are created by rivers and have V-shaped bottoms as opposed to the rounded bottoms of fjords). Because the walls of the fjord are so steep, the boats can easily drive up within inches of the rock walls without fear of running aground. This was demonstrated on multiple occasions under waterfalls where first we were able to fill up drinking glasses sitting in the bow with pure glacial water, and then were drenched under a much more substantial falls. Of course, they lured the adults out to the deck with the promise that the pristine water was guaranteed to make you look 10 years younger. I'm still waiting...!
The weather and scenery were spectacular, but the hands down highlight of the tour was the unexpected appearance of a dozen or more dolphins. Dex spent much of the ride in the wheelhouse with the captain. As we approached the Tasman Sea (the body of water separating New Zealand from Australia and our tour turnaround point), "Eagle Eye" Dex spotted a pod of dolphins jumping in the distance. The captain announced that fact and then headed over for a closer look. For at least ten minutes, as we headed back into the fjord, the Dolphins swam alongside or immediately in front of the bow. It was totally awesome to see them so close and even jumping out of the water from time to time. Of course, I rarely seemed to have the camera pointed in the right direction. Still, it was cool, cool, cool.
The rest of the day was dedicated to making way our back to Te Anau and then up to Queenstown. Our only sightseeing stop was a short 10 minutes walk to “The Chasm,” a small but impressive river gorge carved into the rocks with unusual rock formations -- holes, ledges and arches.
The walkway signs once again highlighted the plight of native New Zealand animals. Because animal life evolved here without land mammals (with the exception a species of bat that flies but also crawls on the forest floor), birds never had to contend with predatory land mammals. With the introduction of rabbits and deer, but particularly cats, possums, rats, weasels, and stoats, the population of native tree nesting birds has been devastated. Even worse are birds that don't fly such as the Takahe, Kiwi, and large, ostrich-like Moa, which was hunted to extinction by the native Maori.
There is an ongoing effort to eradicate, or at least control, the invasive “pest” species. We read about the Central Otago region annual Easter Bunny Hunt, which last year killed 18,027 rabbits in a 24 hour period! Gulp. All I can say is I'm glad I'm not a New Zealand Bunny!
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