Day 16 Te Anau-Milford Sound (3/17/13) Happy St. Paddy's Day

We awoke to the long-predicted rain this morning as we took our time to plot and try to plan the rest of the trip. We packed up and out in time to see the 10:00 am showing of a special film about the inaccessible parts of New Zealand, shot by helicopter and set to music. Very awesome. It was in a small coffee shop/bar/luxury movie theater with plush seats where we sipped cappuccino...very civilized!

Thus inspired by nature, we set off down the Milford road to Milford Sound in the rain. We discovered we are so lucky that it rained. They normally get 6 meters of rain per year here, but it has been very dry. With the rain, it suddenly creates a wonderland of hundreds of waterfalls falling from sheer granite faces. We had to stop the car multiple times, in awe. The mountains were shrouded in ever changing fog and mist..it was indescribable.

We got down to the town of Milford, which consists of a coffee shop/bar/tourist center, where we toasted St Patrick's Day with Murphy's Irish beer, with an Irish bartender (with red dreads!) -very fun! Just before boarding our boat at 4:10, as all the buses left, the rain stopped. We cruised through the fiord with hundreds of waterfalls as a naturalist (a pretty funny, wry Kiwi) explained the features. The mountains rise straight up 1700 meters as the boat hugs the cliff in water that is 800 feet deep right up to it. Some of the falls are over a mile in length. You cannot capture it with a camera, but we must have taken 100 pictures. The clouds and light are constantly shifting...truly amazing. The captain runs the bowsprit into several falls which is lots of fun, and pulls up close to fur seals rolling in the water and doing the Steve Nash on the rocks-chillaxing...

We then anchored on a cove for the evening, where you could kayak or jump on a tender with the naturalist. We picked the tender and went up the coast as he explained that the trees are growing on the moss (no soil), showing us the glacial scars on the rock and starfish eating the mussels near the shore. It is a strange ecosystem...Because it rains so much, there is always a layer of fresh water on top of the sea water which causes unusual sea life. Sometimes the fresh water layer is 10 feet thick. The water is very clean and clear and the naturalist said that the water in NZ is so pure everywhere- supposedly you can drink from the streams.

Back on board for cocktails and dinner, and then a slide show by the naturalist with pics and video clips showing the Sound during rough weather...Yikes! We got lucky. We are now in our cabins tucked in for the night.

All of us agree this is our favorite adventure by far. Tomorrow morning the boat will take us out into the Tasman Sea before returning to Milford by 9:30 am. More picture taking to be sure.