It was another early morning as we had a long drive to Milford Sound to catch our cruise. Alyssa and Josh went to the airport and picked up our relocation car. So instead of a rental we did this relocation car thing where if the rental companies need cars moved they give them to you for free and you just have to pick them up and drop them off in certain cities within a certain amount of time. So we got one to pick up in Qtown and drop off in Auckland in 10 days. The car we got was perfect for our travels, a 2010 Black Subaru Legacy. Way nicer than anything we would have rented so we were pretty excited. We really needed the trunk space. We knew we would be in a rush because the rental place didn’t open until 9 and we had to be to Milford Sound by 12:25 to check in for our cruise. We didn’t get on the road until 9:50 after getting the car, getting back to the hostel and loading it all up. We started looking at our maps and realized we were going to be very close on time. The maps always give a high estimate but even then we were going to be pushing it and we had to stop and rent chains because they are required on the milford sound highway. So we hurried as fast as we felt safe. As we got close enough to see milage signs, I did the math and we realized we weren’t going to make it. We called the cruise line and asked them what to do and after talking it over we decided to continue on but if we didn’t make it, the cruise line said we could reschedule and go on the cruise the next day. Which would have been fine but it was the day for me to do the bungy, so I just wouldn’t have been able to do, but we already had paid for the cruise and I hadn’t paid for the bungy so it wouldn’t have been the worst thing but we were hopeful. So we got there about 10 minutes after the boat was set to leave...and well it was gone. But then, we got a taste of New Zealand hospitality. The people working on our cruise went over to another cruise lines office and asked if we could go on their cruise that was pretty much that same and leaving in 15 minutes. They gave us 4 boarding passes and no problem! No fees or paperwork, it was just like I wish the rest of the world worked. It didn’t matter to the staff what boat we were on, none of them were booked out so it wasn’t a big deal. We were stoked! Thank you Mari from Real Journies Cruise lines! It saved us driving the 2 hours back to the nearest town and then coming back again the next day and me missing the bungy. It was really our bad for not getting a move on and making better arrangements for getting our car but I am stoked it worked out.
The cruise was 2 hours of absolute beauty! We saw cascading waterfalls, penguins, seals, majestic fjords, and dolphins. Time flew by as we were almost overwhelmed with the beauty. It was like the enormous red rock cliffs of Lake Powell on steroids. There were dark green trees and mosses against the dark daunting blue ocean with waterfalls stream down the sheer cliffs. It had rained that morning creating even more waterfalls and created snow capped fjords. At one point, Marian and I were standing on the front dock of the boat as the captain moved the front under a huge waterfall. I saw it coming and ran back so I wouldn’t get wet, but Marian I guess didn’t think he would actually go all the way under the waterfall stayed and got soaked! The captain told us about all the formations and I guess Milford Sound isn’t actually a sound but a fjord, so it has been misnamed. It was formed by a glacier over 5 ice ages. The slopes the trees grow on are so steep that if 1 tree falls down it cause an avalanche of all the trees below and around it.
It has been so crazy to be surrounded by so much beauty these last 5 days. I worry I am spoiling my eyes too much and I’m getting jaded by the brilliance and magnitude of beauty all around this land. Sometimes I get too caught up taking photos because I just wish I could really capture it all to show everyone back home and I have to take a step back and soak it all in through my eyeballs instead of behind the camera lens. I really do wish I could wrap it all up in a package and send it home.
After our amazing cruise we were able to take our time driving on the winding road back from then sound. We stopped and did a couple of short hikes. There are so many beautiful features formed from water and rivers and the foliage is always so bright green even in the middle of winter. We stopped at the Chasm and Marian’s River. We walked part of the way to Marian’s lake but it started to get dark so we headed to the closest town, Te Anau. As we were walking into our hostel we saw Kelly and her dad in the kitchen so of course we banged on the windows and tried to give them a scare. The hostel people let us stay in their room, which we were thrilled to have a room to the 6 of us because in Queenstown there were some really stinking Germans in our room and we didn’t want to risk that again. For dinner we made beef tacos with corn and spent the night relaxing and booking future adventures.
No comments:
Post a Comment