After the horrendous wind and rain
overnight we were a bit nervous about embarking on our cruise of the sound in
the morning, but fortunately the worst of it had cleared and the sun was making
an attempt to break through the cloud.
As always, we took our time doing
who-knows-what in the morning before realising we were pushing our luck to get
to the boat terminal in time for the cruise! (nothing new!)
We parked up our van in the carpark – a
good 15 minute walk from the terminal with only about 5 minutes to spare and
pretty much sprinted to the departure desk. The girls looked at us in a
questionable way, then made a quick call to the captain asking if he’d take a
couple more stragglers. Lucky for us he was in a good mood and we got shooed to
the boat pretty sharpish.
I don’t think I can really do Milford Sound
justice by trying to describe just how spectacular it really is, but it’s like
nothing I’ve ever seen before. Just these huge snow-capped peaks rising out of
the black water is really something to behold.
Our boat took us right to the edge of the
sound and dipped it’s nose into the VERY choppy Tasman Sea before taking a
return loop past a seal colony and underneath one of the waterfalls. The
captain warned everyone on the deck that they were about to get VERY wet if
they stayed outside…we’d been taking advantage of our free tea and coffee
inside at the time (as it was cold beyond belief!) but of course those words
had James leaping to his feat and onto the deck!
From a distance the waterfall looked
impressive but being underneath it was insane! As I watched from the security
of inside the boat I was slightly concerned that James was about to be washed
away (or probably more that my camera was about to be washed away…James can
swim) but we made it out in one piece and James looked pretty chipper (albeit
cold and wet) through the window!
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| Impressive stuff! |
Once we’d returned to land the sun had made
an appearance and it had turned into an amazing afternoon, which gave us a good
shot of seeing the sound as it seems not many people get to!
We left Milford Sound with the intention of
heading straight to Queenstown, which was about a three and a half hour drive.
We waved a begrudging goodbye to the beautiful Milford Sound and hit the road,
and when we did we couldn’t believe how lucky we’d been the day before to see
it all covered in snow as there was barely a patch left! We said our thank
you’s to the weather gods for smiling on us again.
About 30 minutes on the road out of Milford
Sound we stopped to take some Mills and Boon shots at one of the roadside
waterfalls, which just happened to be next to a sign for ‘Gunn’s Camp and
museum’ as well as a load of scenic bits and bobs like waterfalls etc. James,
the keen explorer, can never EVER just drive past a sign for a lookout or
scenic spot – we always have to take the detour to see what’s down there! It
was about 8km down a rough gravel track until we reached Gunn’s Camp and it was
quite something to behold. This was the site of the original 1930’s public
works cabins from when they built the road in and out of Milford Sound, and all
of them had been kept in original condition with the mountains and river as a
backdrop. It was a dollar to enter the ‘museum’, which was pretty entertaining
– heaps and heaps of artifacts from the original road building days and some
great photos as well. All the cabins were open for you to look in so we took a
quick peek and James instantly became a bit enamored with them!
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| The cabins at Gunn Camp |
They were pretty basic, one room with just
a bed and another with a 1960’s sofa and a wood fire. I was stood reflecting on
how on earth 1930’s public workers managed to keep warm (it was freezing) and
meanwhile James was wondering if we should relocate to Gunn’s Camp. We headed
back to the van and James dipped back into the reception area to see how much
the cabins cost to stay in overnight. He got back in the van and we umm’d and
ah’d about it for a while but finally decided it would most likely be freezing
even with the log fire and we were on a pretty tight budget (even though they
were pretty cheap…)
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| ANOTHER waterfall! |
We hit the road again and for the 8km back
to the main road I knew he wasn’t happy. I kept asking if he wanted to go back
and satay in a cabin but he kept arguing reasons why we shouldn’t so I let it
go. Finally, after 8km back along the rough gravel track he gave me a look I’ve
come to know well meaning ‘I really want to do something, please let me,
please, please…!’ so I asked one more time if he wanted to stay and 30 seconds
later we’re heading 8km back down the gravel track!
It was only early afternoon by the time
we’d booked in so we decided to explore some of the scenic spots nearby. First
stop was Humboldt Falls and as usual, the walk up to the falls was somewhat
steeper than we’d anticipated! The view was well worth it though and after a
lot of rain the three-tiered waterfall was in full swing.
Next stop was a suspension bridge James had
spotted through the trees on our way to the waterfall. We pulled in at the side
of the road and I braved it first – it seriously didn’t look like something
that should be open to the public but I gingerly ventured out into the middle
and James followed. The view was incredible – the water was bright turquoise
and roaring down the river but every step you took on the bridge made it swing
in the wind! It was ever so slightly unnerving…
We headed back to camp to settle in for the
evening and James looked positively gleeful as he prepared our fire. I was
still a bit dubious about whether it would be able to do the job, even after
he’d got it going… but before long it was roaring and heated the cabin so well
we actually had to open the windows to cool down! Lacking any method to cook
our dinner for the evening in the basic cabins, our roaring fire also provided
a very handy heating tool for our pie and veggie dinner! (All James’ idea, for
which he was VERY proud of himself!)
Another fun quirk of staying in the cabins
was that each was run on a generator, meaning at 9pm just after we’d finished
our pies everything suddenly went can’t-see-your-hand-in-front-of-your-face
dark and of course, despite warning, we hadn’t remembered to bring in any
torches from the van!
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| Proud of his pies |
We decided it as probably a good excuse for
us to get our early night anyway and after the initial panic of being in the
middle of nowhere in the pitch black with no locks on the door – we eventually
slept like logs!
The next morning we returned to our
original plan of hitting Queenstown and took to the road for the long journey
there. After about three hours or so the scenery got particularly impressive on
the drive in past mountains and Lake Wakatipu with Queenstown visable in the
distance scattered up the hillside.
We weren’t too sure where to set up camp in
Queenstown – the Top 10 campground was the best situated but we’d stayed in a
couple so far that had been less than impressive and always the most expensive.
We decided to check it out anyway and James blagged our way in for a look
around by telling the girls on reception we needed to view the facilities on
account of my broken shoulder! With hindsight it’s unsurprising that they were
more than obliging as the facilities turned out to be the best we’d seen so far
– warm, and with better showers than you’d have in your house! Needless to say
it was an easy decision to stay.
After we’d picked our spot we took the
short walk into town – it was beautiful weather so we headed down to the wharf,
and were pleased to find a pub owned by our favourite NZ brewery right on the
waterfront with views of the water and mountains.
After a couple of scenic beers and some
wedges we headed back to the van with plans to explore the town more in the
morning.
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| Scenic beer! |
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