Day 74 13-8-2007 Milford Sound

Another day, another trip. This one was going to be a 12 hours round trip to Milford Sound. Although on the map Milford Sound isn't far away from Queenstown. To get to it means going around a number of large lakes, driving down numerous mountain valleys and going through a dodgy looking tunnel (It took years for the route to be completed). The result is accessing some of the best sceanery in New Zealand and thats saying alot. Thankfully for once is wasnt raining, this was the only good weather day in Queenstown whilst i was there.

The journey to M. S. wasn't too bad either and went very quick. Partly due to the stops every 30 min or so, for photo opportunities, (there lots to see on the way as there has been on all the coach journeys ive been on). But mainly due to sleeping through half of it, thanks to large quantities of wine drunk from the previous night. There are lots of wineries in New Zealand and i've prpbably sampled bottles from most of them.

Once at Milford Sound, a boat takes you down the waterway to the mouth where the Tasmin Sea begins. Because of the large amount of rain form the previous day, there were buckets of waterfalls cascading on both sides of the Sound. Sadly no penguins to be seen, but a few seals were spotted along the way. The boat journey lasts about an hour and half. The highlight being getting soaked from one of the waterfalls (the boat backs in to it for a closer look). Once off the boat its back on the bus for a tiring return journey. But not for me.

I decided to take a different route back. So i hopped on a tiny fixed wing 6 seater plane to take the more direct route. Flying in these things is a totally different to nomal planes and was fortunate enough to sit at the front with the pilot (im a co pilot- not). So armed with my camcorder and fresh underwear i was ready to go.

The first thing you notice when flying in these planes is how fragile they seem to be. Any small ghust of wind was like a slap across the the planes face. Maybe not as hard as the ones i got in the Dolphin, but neverthertheless just as effective when your as close to mountains as we were. Flying the plane looks quite easy, at least the pilot made it look that way. he didnt press many switches, which is prpobably a good thing.

The journey took us over and between mountains, over glaciers, lakes and forests of Fiordland National Park. The journey was about 45 minutes, roughly about the same amount of time i had my mouth open, gasping at the views in front and at the side of me.

The flight back had the additional advantage of returning from the trip 3 hours earlier than expected. Time for more wine me thinks!