Who knew this 'stop' was on our cruise itinerary? I did not pay attention to the itinerary. I did not know. I am so glad we did.
After a week of cruising around New Zealand, I was ready for three days at sea. Little did I know we would be spending a day cruising Fjord's. No one told me! We have seen Fjord's in Chile and Norway. Gorgeous. But, here? Can they be as phenomenal? In one word, yep. Fiordland is the name given to New Zealand's southwest coast, an area of over 3 million acres. It is a UNESCO Te Wahipounamu World Heritage Site. It is here you will find the majestic wilderness of rocks, cliffs, ice, waterfalls, snow and forest. Over time, glaciers worked furiously to forge their way into this coast. It rains at least 183 days a year here. The annual rainfall is over 265 inches. It is one of the wettest places on earth. Millions come here, few have the day we did. We were given pure golden sunshine and rather still seas. Unheard of in this neck of the woods.
We spent a whole day cruising 3 Fjords. At 8AM we cruised Dusky Fjord for two hours. At 1:30 we found ourselves in Doubtful Fjords, for an hour. Finally, at 3 we entered Milford Sound and stayed within its presence for over 2 hours. The only thing to do while here it to take in as much as you can and appreciate how beautiful our world really is. All we could hear was the sound of our ship gliding slowly through the water. Stillness surrounded us.
When we arrived in the Fjords the sky was heavily overcast and grey. Rain was ready to pour down on us. I loved the greyness, the low clouds, and mist filled air that surrounded us. It was a wonderful contrast to what awaited us in Milford Sound. In Milford Sound, the sun was shining brightly and it felt like we were in the Caribbean for a while. I perched myself up at the center rail on deck 12 and just stood there for a good hour, taking in the natural beauty surrounding me. The rails held three deep. We arrived 'early' (funny cruise ship word when time has no meaning) so the Captain just sat in the Fjord facing Mitre Peak, 5,560 feet high, sheer cliffs capped with snow. We stopped the ship for about 30 minutes. Then the Captain started to turn in a circle in the middle of the Fjord. As soon as we turned, the wind picked up to a gale force (it seemed) and it turned a bitter cold.... that quickly. Most on deck headed for a warmer viewing place. We spent close to an hour in one place. As we headed out, we stopped at Bowen Falls , 531 feet of falling water above me, for another 20 minutes. I could almost touch the falls from our balcony. As we left the falls, nature surprised me with a double rainbow at the bottom of the falls. 400 pictures later,or so it seemed, we cruised back out its natural doorway and headed for Tasmania.
By dinner time, I was 'exhausted' :) . It is tough to be awed with such beauty for the better part of a day. No pictures will ever do it justice, but I will try to give you an impression of what we saw and leave it at that. Do come here if you can. It is well worth it.
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