Stop and Smell the Roses

I never thought I would say this, but I believe we just saw the most beautiful part of New Zealand: Milford Sound in Fiordland. Every turn is a postcard image so maybe there is even more beauty ahead. But there is absolutely no question that my eyes have now witnessed such awe-inspiring natural beauty that I never could conceive possible.

It poured rain on the two hour drive to Milford Sound from Te Anau on Friday. Assumingly not the ideal weather for an overnight sailboat cruise, but we were sorely mistaken. Forceful waterfalls cascaded down the mile-high vertical glacial rock shelves on our drive through the Divide, the lowest elevation east-west highway at ~550 meters. We passed through the Homer Tunnel that barrels through the rock mountain. Mist and fog filled the air but the beauty of these sudden rain-created waterfalls remained in our sight as we imagined their complete length. Oh, how we longed to see the amazing beauty that surrounded us!

We boarded "The Wanderer" and set sail into Milford Sound at 4:30pm. The boat holds 61 passengers, but there were only 26 of us on board. This means that Andy and I got our own room - thank God - as the room was no bigger than 7' x 7' with two bunk beds sleeping four! As we set sail, the clouds began to break for the first time in three days. Mitre Peak towered above us at 1695 meters ( 5561 feet), the highest sea cliff in the world! Our eyes played tricks on us as it's difficult to conceptualize the astounding height of these cliffs with no graduation of the sides. We gazed at the powerful Stirling Falls, three times the height of Niagara and much wider than usual because of the recent rain. I struggle to find the words to describe this sublime experience. "Am I in Disneyland???" I kept asking, as it seemed unreal how perfect it was. Just go there one day, it will absolutely leave you breathless.

Kayaks were going out as an evening activity, but we elected to take a trip out on the speedboat instead. After all we just went for four hours the day before. We got up close and personal with the roaring waterfalls and learned more about the flora and fauna from Mike, one of our guides. Gulls hung out around the vertical shoreline as dusk and low tide set in, waiting for a few of the millions of tiny mussels to forget to close up for the night and have a meal. We met a couple of Germans, Ann-Marie and Pascal, and had dinner together aboard the ship. We played Jenga and Yatzee before we wound down for bed - yikes! Narrower than a twin for sure!

The starry morning was beautiful as the faint outline of the rocks and trees came into view. Fingers of fog curled over the mountainsides while we sailed out towards the Tasman Sea. The power of the waterfalls waned overnight with some ceasing completely. How blessed we were to receive such rain yesterday! As we looked back towards the fiord we could fathom how Captain James Cook, an explorer who discovered many other fiords in NZ, naturally missed it as he passed by on the sea in 1770. It looks like just a cove. It wasn't discovered until 50 years later by the notorious sealer Captain Groden who, by the way, killed over 14,000 seals for their fur and oil in the early 1800s.

A sunny day was ahead of us on Saturday as we deboarded the ship at 9:30am. There are dozens of hikes on Milford Road back to Te Anau and since the weather was fine we checked out a couple. The first was "The Chasm," an incredible sight below us of a river crashing through rocks over thousands of years to create a deep gorge. Next, we hiked the beginning of one of the NZ "great walks" called the Roteburn Track. It crept up along the rocky hillside among silver beech forest and branched off even higher to Key Summit. I thought the switchbacks would never end! As we crept higher, 360 views of the mountains and valley surrounded us. WOW. Please check out the photos - I felt like we were in a painting! We had lunch at the apex with views of Marian Lake, a glacial tarn. Being up here with only the sounds of the birds and river roaring way below, I felt at such peace inside. The warm sun was beating down on us and it was nice to be rid of our multiple layers for a short while. Nothing like trekking straight up a mountainside for an hour and a half to get the sweat going.

We planned to head back to Invercargill last night, but we were beat by the time we got back to Te Anau so we pitched our tent at a holiday park on the lakefront to enjoy the warm and sunny afternoon. I read the paper, Andy napped...ahh, a brief respit to fill up our fuel tanks.

Now we are in Invercargill. Not much here really, but we did discover Queen's Park this afternoon and ate our picnic lunch. We checked out the rose gardens, aviary and yes, even played in the playground! I suddenly wished I was small again but in my mind I was. We stopped to smell the roses. I smiled as I realized we have nothing we have to do, no where we have to go and finally I am living in the present moment, all the time.

Tonight we are headed along the south coast towards the Catlins to explore for a couple of days.