Milford Sound/ Doubtful sound, which cruise to take?

If I have the time, would it be a good idea to do the cruises on both
Sounds, or would it be better to spend the time elsewhere? Also, I
can't decide on a day cruise or the overnight cruise. Are there any
advantages to taking the overnight cruise? Do they go further? Any
thoughts on this would be appreciated. I'm really confused as to what
would be the best. I do want to take a smaller boat.

Lee wrote:
If I have the time, would it be a good idea to do the cruises on both
Sounds, or would it be better to spend the time elsewhere? Also, I
can't decide on a day cruise or the overnight cruise. Are there any
advantages to taking the overnight cruise? Do they go further? Any
thoughts on this would be appreciated. I'm really confused as to what
would be the best. I do want to take a smaller boat.

Both are great, so you'll likely be pleased with whichever you choose.
Probably not worth your while doing both though.

The disadvantage of Milford sound is the large number of tourists who go
there - it's a bit of a crush at times.

There is no road access to Doubtful Sound, so if you go on a trip there,
you'll be much less likely to see anyone else.

I'd go for Doubtful sound.

Can't comment on the overnighters.

--
Burn the land and boil the sea,
You can't take the sky from me.

Lee wrote:
If I have the time, would it be a good idea to do the cruises on both
Sounds, or would it be better to spend the time elsewhere? Also, I
can't decide on a day cruise or the overnight cruise. Are there any
advantages to taking the overnight cruise? Do they go further? Any
thoughts on this would be appreciated. I'm really confused as to what
would be the best. I do want to take a smaller boat.

Both are great, so you'll likely be pleased with whichever you choose.
Probably not worth your while doing both though.

The disadvantage of Milford sound is the large number of tourists who go
there - it's a bit of a crush at times.

There is no road access to Doubtful Sound, so if you go on a trip there,
you'll be much less likely to see anyone else.

I'd go for Doubtful sound.

Can't comment on the overnighters.

--
Burn the land and boil the sea,
You can't take the sky from me.

Lee wrote:
If I have the time, would it be a good idea to do the cruises on both
Sounds, or would it be better to spend the time elsewhere? Also, I
can't decide on a day cruise or the overnight cruise. Are there any
advantages to taking the overnight cruise? Do they go further? Any
thoughts on this would be appreciated. I'm really confused as to what
would be the best. I do want to take a smaller boat.

I've been on both day and overnight cruises and can recommend the
overnight one. Sure, it costs a fair bit more, but you get accomodation
and meals which you'd have to pay for elsewhere.

The big bonus is that you don't have to share the place with great
crowds of tourists. The normal flow is for a stream of tour buses to
come in from Te Anau and Queenstown in the morning and out again in the
afternoon. That's a lot of traffic all going the same way at the same
time on a fairly narrow and winding road. It kind of detracts from the
attraction of the magnificent drive if you are stuck in between a
couple of big buses. As well as that all the stopping points are
crowded, and getting lunch or having a quiet morning or afternoon tea
at Milford is difficult.

If you take the overnight cruise, then you can come in during the
afternoon. If you pick your time the road is pretty quiet and most of
the traffic will be going the other direction, anyway.

There are two (sometimes three) overnight boats in summer - one has
double or twin ensuite cabins and the other has four bunk cabins with
shared facilities (for about half the price).

You board about 4:30 PM, get a light meal as you head out down the
Sound, and do all the usual stuff, look at the waterfalls, go out into
the Tasman, check out the seals etc. It takes a couple of hours and
then you anchor at a sheltered cove (one of the few places you can
ancher - mostly the sheer rockwalls plunge down vertically way below
the surface) and have dinner. Weather permitting you can go kayaking or
in a rubber duckie or have a walk ashore, all with crew members
supervising and pointing out wildlife.

After breakfast in the morning you do another cruise up and down the
Sound and finish about 0930.

So you get two cruises, two meals, accomodation and the chance of some
off-boat activities.

The big advantage of being there for thirteen hours instead of three is
that you get more of a chance to see the place while it isn't raining.
I've yet to see Milford Sound on a clear blue day, but at least the
last time it cleared up slightly in the morning.

The drive in is spectacular, the fjord itself is awesome, and the
cruise is great fun.

http://www.fiordlandtravel.co.nz/Main/OvernightCruises/ has a page
giving some details and pictures.

And if you'll allow me to self-indulgently quote from my book on New
Zealand:

We bought lunch at Te Anau, a trim little town on the edge of the lake
of the same name. The guidebook told us to fill up with petrol here,
because the next service station was in Milford Sound, where standard
petrol was at a premium. It also mentioned the nearby film locations of
Kepler Mire and Bog Pine Paddock, which had been the Midgewater Marsh
near Bree and the Dead Marshes near Mordor. Take insect repellent and
gumboots, dear re-enactor!

I wanted a picnic spot on the shores of the lake, but endless forest
lined the lakeside. We finally found a track leading in, taking us to a
stony little beach under the beeches. Across the calm lake the clouds
were massing above the mountains and my hopes of a clear day at Milford
were fading rapidly.

Lunch was fresh pull-apart loaves, meat slices and fruit nectar. John
and I tried throwing the beach into the lake but we couldn't make
much headway - there were just too many perfect flat, rounded stones
to skim and bounce across the still surface.

And then we were away again, taking care not to sink into the shingle
as we made a 21-point turn to head back to the road. Another stop
further on (and further up into the mountains) at the Mirror Lakes, a
popular place for the big tour buses.

Final pause of the day was at the entrance to the Homer Tunnel. I
wanted to release a book inside this landmark, and besides, here was a
chance to finally see some kea. In 1983 they had been everywhere in the
mountains, but now signs warned against feeding them, telling us that
the diet of tourist titbits which had sustained them in record numbers
for decades was unhealthy for them.

Hmmmm. I suspect that the current campaign was intended to limit the
damage they caused to hire cars, but that's still a worthy objective.
I wrapped my book up in a ziplock bag, walked about fifty metres inside
the tunnel, propped it against one of the walls, took a few flash
pictures and walked back outside. You want to see the pix? You'll
have to check out the journal entry, because the best is pretty woeful.
http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/1193406 has a fuzzy photograph for
the keen Bookcrosser to smile at.

This year the "snow" extended far closer to the road, and was more
like the real thing than the freezer scrapings we'd seen two decades
earlier. After spending most of the intervening years living in
Canberra, we now knew all about snow! Kerri and the kids were doing
their best to peg snowballs at each other, but when a boulder came
crashing down the side of the mountain, sending up a scatter of ice
flakes before rolling to a stop a few metres away, we decided it was
time to be on back on the road!

But before we went Mary, bless her mischievous heart, had to give one
of the kea a feed. Hard to resist these stocky, cheeky birds, and Mary
is not one to pass up a chance to give an animal a bit of affection, be
it caravan park cat, mountain kea or inquisitive deer.

The tunnel must have been widened in the interval, because the
half-hour each way roster system had gone and it was open slather.
Still, I was glad that I had decided not to release my book in
mid-tunnel - there was no room at all to pull over and the last thing
I wanted behind me was a tourist bus full of curious people watching as
I took photographs of a book in a plastic bag!

On the other end the clouds were starting to break into drizzle and it
was two hours before our cruise would be ready to leave. We looked for
our riverside park, but there was now a backpackers lodge on the site
and the access path had been paved over.

At the end of the road we found the cruise terminal, where parking was
restricted to tour coaches only. The public car park was four hundred
metres back down the road, so we turned around, parked the car and
warmed ourselves with cappuccinos and cake in the coffee shop of the
THC. John moped around the souvenir displays and I discovered an
internet connection where I made release notes for Homer Tunnel.
When boarding time approached, I dropped the family at the cruise
terminal, took the car back to the car park and set off along the
walkway, my umbrella a welcome protection against the drizzle. The edge
of the fjord was fringed with reeds and low trees and when an opening
came, I looked out over the water surface to the misty shape of Mitre
Peak beyond. There was a boat out there, its tiny shape almost lost
against the mountains.

I blinked and realised that this was no boat. It was the enormous
cruise liner Star Princess, and it looked like a toy in a bathtub here.
Strange - it had seemed to dwarf the whole city of Wellington when I
had seen it a few days earlier. It was a perfect illustration of the
immensity of the fjord - Mitre Peak soared a mile into the air and
the rest of the landscape was in proportion.


The cruise terminal was warm and dry, a welcome relief, and we camped
in a corner watching the ebb and flow of tourists. We were long past
the time of the day trippers from Queenstown or Te Anau - everyone we
saw here was staying overnight, one way or another.

Our call came after a while, and we trooped out to our boat, the MV
Milford Wanderer, a big blue two masted steel ketch; cruise boat by
day, youth hostel by night.

The crew efficiently poured us downstairs to a succession of cabins,
each containing two or four bunks, a porthole, a curtain for a door,
with passenger names written on a small piece of whiteboard. We had a
four-bunker and after stowing our bag Kerri and I left John and Mary
flaking out, teenager-like, on the bunks while we went upstairs to have
a look around the ship.

Not much to it, really. Two masts, each with a sail that was more or
less permanently stowed. Passenger accommodation belowdecks in a series
of compartments. Diesels at the stern. On the main deck was the
passenger cabin with a bar/kitchen/shop, a series of six toilets right
aft. Showers and stockroom forward. Upper deck was the bridge, with
crew accommodation behind.

Passengers were free to roam inside and outside - the ship was
crammed with viewing platforms and very little was "out-of-bounds".
Even the bridge was accessible, and later on I took John up to see how
the captain steered using a joystick.

Once all the passengers were aboard, we were called to the main cabin
and given a safety briefing, a guide to what facilities were available,
what we'd be doing, and an introduction to the crew of five. The plan
was for a cruise along the fjord, out into the ocean and back in to
moor in Harrisons Cove, one of the three places where boats could
anchor, the rock walls of the old glacier valley plunging straight down
to a great depth. We'd have dinner there, do a bit of kayaking and
shore excursions if the weather was clement, spend the night at anchor,
and after breakfast in the morning we'd do another trip out to the
ocean and back in to the cruise terminal.

And with that, we got under way, bowls of rich red, warming tomato soup
were served, and we set about introducing ourselves. The other
passengers, sixty or more all told, were a range of ages, mostly
between 20 and 40. No other teenagers besides John and Mary, only a
couple of other children, and very few of the retirees one might
expect. Perhaps they'd all gone on the other ship in the fleet, which
carried the same number of passengers in twin or double ensuite cabins
and cost twice as much.

There was no ship's library where I could release a book, but a few
books, mainly reference works on the history and wildlife and
vegetation of Milford Sound, were scattered about and I deftly released
a thriller amongst them. Not yet caught, perhaps it is still there,
stamped "MILFORD WANDERER" by some zealous crew member.

We were given a considerable amount of information over the next few
hours of the long summer evening. This close to the summer solstice and
this far south, the days were several miles long and the sun didn't
set until somewhere around nine or ten.

To begin with, we got the standard line about being lucky to have a
rainy day because we could see all the dozens of waterfalls rather than
just the two or three permanent falls. A standard line because I
remembered it from twenty years previously!

And another canned line: Milford Sound isn't really a sound -
it's a fjord because it was carved out by a glacier rather than a
river. Fjords are marked by a U-shaped profile if you include the
underwater section and as a result the sides are steep and the water is
uniformly deep.

Milford Sound was named after Milford Haven in Wales by one of the
early seal-hunters. Of course it already had a Maori name, a wonder
that for such a remote and rugged location the Maori ever penetrated
here. They certainly did, passing over the mountains via the route of
the present-day Milford Track, and they then built canoes to explore it
and mine the greenstone found near the fjord entrance, building roaring
fires amongst the damp rocks to crack the greenstone into manageable
pieces. Their name was Piopiotahi meaning "place of the singing
thrush", a bird now extinct here.

As we cruise down the sound the rain eases off and we go outside. The
waterfalls, the many waterfalls, are spectacular, plunging down from an
enormous height. The captain points the ship directly at one of the
highest. I know what's coming and I edge back to about the level of
the bridge.

The captain takes advantage of the steep side to nudge the bow right
under the falling water. One by one the passengers scuttle away from
this immense cold shower. All but one brave young fellow in a raincoat
and hat who shrieks with delight as he is engulfed in the torrent. He
loves it! We back slowly astern and he shakes himself dry, looking back
at the bridge with a broad and brilliant smile.

Further down the fjord we enter an area of high wind where the cliffs
on either side approach each other in a gigantic wind funnel. We look
high above and there is a waterfall flowing the wrong way - the wind
is actually blowing the entire flow of a large waterfall straight up
into the clouds. Awesome!

The sea cliffs are steep and in the case of those under Mitre Peak I
must use that word "awesome" again. They have been colonised in
most places by a sort of vertical forest, each tree interlocking its
roots with its neighbours, forming a mat that extends hundreds of
metres up. Here and there entire segments have ripped away from the
wall, one tree taking the next with it in an expanding domino sequence
until cliffsides are laid bare. It can take several decades for the
forest to work its way back up.

Here and there the cliffs are so steep that they actually project out
over the water. The ship slides close alongside and we are told to put
our backs to the rail and lean back. We do so and see the cliff face
bulging out above us, way, way above us.

The scale is immense. Milford Sound is larger than life and the crew
take pleasure and pride in showing it off. Up on the bridge one crew
member is detailed to look for wildlife and she announces a pod of
dolphins. We rush to the bow and there they are - Dusky dolphins,
natives of Dusky Sound further south, playing and frolicking around the
bow. They move with glittering speed, racing, chasing, speeding under
the water and reappearing under our noses. They vanish as quickly as
they came, but we stay out on deck as we head out into the sea.
Mary raises her arm and points - a bird, she says, a sort of duck,
maybe? A bird it is, the crew member on the bridge tells us. A very
rare Fiordland Crested Penguin, out fishing for its chick, snug in a
burrow ashore.

We go right out into the Tasman Sea before turning and looking back.
The entrance to the fjord is all but invisible, and we are told that
this is probably why James Cook didn't see it when he passed by in
early 1770. Of course, in his sailing ship he would not have wanted to
venture too close inshore, especially with the winds blowing from the
west, as they almost always do.

I feel awed by the presence of greatness. Not just the mighty sights of
Milford Sound, but the knowledge that here I am floating on the same
water that Cook sailed on, two and a half centuries back. Such a man to
have cast so long a shadow!

We sail back inside and the dolphins rejoin us, leaping out of the
water and zooming in for a minute or so of riding the bow wave. Of
course we've all seen dolphins before at places like Sea World, but
this is different. This is wild.

We pass rocks on which seals are reclining. Seems there were more last
time we were here, but there are maybe a score scattered around. I
refrain from taking photographs - we don't come close enough for
them not to look like rocks, at least in my base-grade camera with zero
optical or digital zoom.

Rainbows appear ahead as the sun slices along the horizon behind us
like a buzz-saw before finally vanishing. I try to take a few
photographs but the results are disappointing.

Coffee and tea are available in the main cabin on a self-serve basis,
and I drink several cups during the trip, not least for the warming
effect - out on the deck it is chilly in the declining evening,
compounded by the light rain and the ever-present wind.

And then we are moving slowly through Harrisons Cove, aiming for a
mooring close to shore. The larger Milford Mariner is already anchored
fore and aft further out, but we pick up lines secured ashore before
dinner is served.

Dinner is three solid courses, all of it hearty and delicious. The bar
is opened before dinner and drinks are available. I ask the crew member
working the bar for a recommendation and his face lights up as he
expands on the merits of the various brands, based on his long and
happy experience. It's all good stuff, however, and I enjoy the beer
he proffers as the best.

In fine weather there are wildlife cruises in the rubber duckies,
kayaking off the stern and shore walks, but the weather is fairly
miserable today, so we settle in the main cabin where the company grows
lively.

Just before I turned in I overheard a couple of the crew members
discussing a stunt - they were to dive from the top deck into the icy
waters of the fjord on a dare. Which they did a few moments later -
they invited me to join them, but I was prevented on two counts - I
had no "togs" with me, and I was in full possession of all my
senses. Swimming at night in a fjord - come on!

Finally the bar closed and the ship slept. I got up in the early hours
and looked out on the still waters, the waterfalls cascading down the
cliffs, the silent forests, everything silver and black under a
scudding moon. A cold, lonely, unearthly view.

And all too soon it's morning again, and the ship is alive with
passengers having a morning cuppa, shower, shave...

Breakfast is even heartier than dinner, and with everyone fresh, clean
and full, we head out to the ocean again. It is awesome, especially
with the new day a little clearer than the previous. With the sun
coming from a different direction we see Milford Sound literally in a
new light.

And then, all too soon, we are sliding back into the cruise terminal,
people are shaking hands, saying goodbye, dragging their luggage up
from below...

It is raining again, and I unfurl my umbrella, walk back to the car
park and ease my mind as to whether I left the lights on overnight. I
hadn't. The car starts easily and I am able to offer a lift to the
terminal to a couple of lanky Scandinavian backpackers. They hop out,
my family hops in, and we're off on the next leg, back up to Homer
Tunnel, check whether my book has been caught - no, it's still
waiting in the darkness, gleaming in the regular flash of headlights
- and then wind down again through the mountains past the lakes and
into Te Anau.

http://www.lulu.com/content/56751

Hello!
The Milford Sound cruise was a highlight of my visit to New Zealand, although I
understand the weather can be a little trick in that area. We toured around
noon so a lunch was served.
Queenstown was another scenery highlight. Regards, Bruce

Thank you all so very much for the information. And a great big thak
you to you, Peter. I really appreciate all the great advice and
information. I raelly enjoyed reading the passage from your book.
Although I haven't been on the tour yet, it makes it all come alive.
For sure I'll be booking the overnight tour on the same boat you were
on. We will be staying in Queenston the night before, as my friend is
doing the 4 day Milford trek. I will srop her off and then spend a
quiet morning on my own before heading out to the boat. By what you
are saying, I don't want to head out too early. I don't want to get
too tangled up with tour buses. So I think I'll head out around lunch
time. BTW, I think it's great that you've written a book and I'd love
to know more about it and if it would help me with the rest of my
trip. I must say I didn't know about setting books free, but read the
site and it sounds like a great idea.
If you can think of anythnkg else that will help, I'd appreciate it.
Thanks to you, I am going to book the overnight cruise.

"Peter" wrote in message ...
Lee wrote:
If I have the time, would it be a good idea to do the cruises on both
Sounds, or would it be better to spend the time elsewhere? Also, I
can't decide on a day cruise or the overnight cruise. Are there any
advantages to taking the overnight cruise? Do they go further? Any
thoughts on this would be appreciated. I'm really confused as to what
would be the best. I do want to take a smaller boat.

I've been on both day and overnight cruises and can recommend the
overnight one. Sure, it costs a fair bit more, but you get accomodation
and meals which you'd have to pay for elsewhere.

The big bonus is that you don't have to share the place with great
crowds of tourists. The normal flow is for a stream of tour buses to
come in from Te Anau and Queenstown in the morning and out again in the
afternoon. That's a lot of traffic all going the same way at the same
time on a fairly narrow and winding road. It kind of detracts from the
attraction of the magnificent drive if you are stuck in between a
couple of big buses. As well as that all the stopping points are
crowded, and getting lunch or having a quiet morning or afternoon tea
at Milford is difficult.

If you take the overnight cruise, then you can come in during the
afternoon. If you pick your time the road is pretty quiet and most of
the traffic will be going the other direction, anyway.

There are two (sometimes three) overnight boats in summer - one has
double or twin ensuite cabins and the other has four bunk cabins with
shared facilities (for about half the price).

You board about 4:30 PM, get a light meal as you head out down the
Sound, and do all the usual stuff, look at the waterfalls, go out into
the Tasman, check out the seals etc. It takes a couple of hours and
then you anchor at a sheltered cove (one of the few places you can
ancher - mostly the sheer rockwalls plunge down vertically way below
the surface) and have dinner. Weather permitting you can go kayaking or
in a rubber duckie or have a walk ashore, all with crew members
supervising and pointing out wildlife.

After breakfast in the morning you do another cruise up and down the
Sound and finish about 0930.

So you get two cruises, two meals, accomodation and the chance of some
off-boat activities.

The big advantage of being there for thirteen hours instead of three is
that you get more of a chance to see the place while it isn't raining.
I've yet to see Milford Sound on a clear blue day, but at least the
last time it cleared up slightly in the morning.

The drive in is spectacular, the fjord itself is awesome, and the
cruise is great fun.

http://www.fiordlandtravel.co.nz/Main/OvernightCruises/ has a page
giving some details and pictures.

And if you'll allow me to self-indulgently quote from my book on New
Zealand:

We bought lunch at Te Anau, a trim little town on the edge of the lake
of the same name. The guidebook told us to fill up with petrol here,
because the next service station was in Milford Sound, where standard
petrol was at a premium. It also mentioned the nearby film locations of
Kepler Mire and Bog Pine Paddock, which had been the Midgewater Marsh
near Bree and the Dead Marshes near Mordor. Take insect repellent and
gumboots, dear re-enactor!

I wanted a picnic spot on the shores of the lake, but endless forest
lined the lakeside. We finally found a track leading in, taking us to a
stony little beach under the beeches. Across the calm lake the clouds
were massing above the mountains and my hopes of a clear day at Milford
were fading rapidly.

Lunch was fresh pull-apart loaves, meat slices and fruit nectar. John
and I tried throwing the beach into the lake but we couldn't make
much headway - there were just too many perfect flat, rounded stones
to skim and bounce across the still surface.

And then we were away again, taking care not to sink into the shingle
as we made a 21-point turn to head back to the road. Another stop
further on (and further up into the mountains) at the Mirror Lakes, a
popular place for the big tour buses.

Final pause of the day was at the entrance to the Homer Tunnel. I
wanted to release a book inside this landmark, and besides, here was a
chance to finally see some kea. In 1983 they had been everywhere in the
mountains, but now signs warned against feeding them, telling us that
the diet of tourist titbits which had sustained them in record numbers
for decades was unhealthy for them.

Hmmmm. I suspect that the current campaign was intended to limit the
damage they caused to hire cars, but that's still a worthy objective.
I wrapped my book up in a ziplock bag, walked about fifty metres inside
the tunnel, propped it against one of the walls, took a few flash
pictures and walked back outside. You want to see the pix? You'll
have to check out the journal entry, because the best is pretty woeful.
http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/1193406 has a fuzzy photograph for
the keen Bookcrosser to smile at.

This year the "snow" extended far closer to the road, and was more
like the real thing than the freezer scrapings we'd seen two decades
earlier. After spending most of the intervening years living in
Canberra, we now knew all about snow! Kerri and the kids were doing
their best to peg snowballs at each other, but when a boulder came
crashing down the side of the mountain, sending up a scatter of ice
flakes before rolling to a stop a few metres away, we decided it was
time to be on back on the road!

But before we went Mary, bless her mischievous heart, had to give one
of the kea a feed. Hard to resist these stocky, cheeky birds, and Mary
is not one to pass up a chance to give an animal a bit of affection, be
it caravan park cat, mountain kea or inquisitive deer.

The tunnel must have been widened in the interval, because the
half-hour each way roster system had gone and it was open slather.
Still, I was glad that I had decided not to release my book in
mid-tunnel - there was no room at all to pull over and the last thing
I wanted behind me was a tourist bus full of curious people watching as
I took photographs of a book in a plastic bag!

On the other end the clouds were starting to break into drizzle and it
was two hours before our cruise would be ready to leave. We looked for
our riverside park, but there was now a backpackers lodge on the site
and the access path had been paved over.

At the end of the road we found the cruise terminal, where parking was
restricted to tour coaches only. The public car park was four hundred
metres back down the road, so we turned around, parked the car and
warmed ourselves with cappuccinos and cake in the coffee shop of the
THC. John moped around the souvenir displays and I discovered an
internet connection where I made release notes for Homer Tunnel.
When boarding time approached, I dropped the family at the cruise
terminal, took the car back to the car park and set off along the
walkway, my umbrella a welcome protection against the drizzle. The edge
of the fjord was fringed with reeds and low trees and when an opening
came, I looked out over the water surface to the misty shape of Mitre
Peak beyond. There was a boat out there, its tiny shape almost lost
against the mountains.

I blinked and realised that this was no boat. It was the enormous
cruise liner Star Princess, and it looked like a toy in a bathtub here.
Strange - it had seemed to dwarf the whole city of Wellington when I
had seen it a few days earlier. It was a perfect illustration of the
immensity of the fjord - Mitre Peak soared a mile into the air and
the rest of the landscape was in proportion.


The cruise terminal was warm and dry, a welcome relief, and we camped
in a corner watching the ebb and flow of tourists. We were long past
the time of the day trippers from Queenstown or Te Anau - everyone we
saw here was staying overnight, one way or another.

Our call came after a while, and we trooped out to our boat, the MV
Milford Wanderer, a big blue two masted steel ketch; cruise boat by
day, youth hostel by night.

The crew efficiently poured us downstairs to a succession of cabins,
each containing two or four bunks, a porthole, a curtain for a door,
with passenger names written on a small piece of whiteboard. We had a
four-bunker and after stowing our bag Kerri and I left John and Mary
flaking out, teenager-like, on the bunks while we went upstairs to have
a look around the ship.

Not much to it, really. Two masts, each with a sail that was more or
less permanently stowed. Passenger accommodation belowdecks in a series
of compartments. Diesels at the stern. On the main deck was the
passenger cabin with a bar/kitchen/shop, a series of six toilets right
aft. Showers and stockroom forward. Upper deck was the bridge, with
crew accommodation behind.

Passengers were free to roam inside and outside - the ship was
crammed with viewing platforms and very little was "out-of-bounds".
Even the bridge was accessible, and later on I took John up to see how
the captain steered using a joystick.

Once all the passengers were aboard, we were called to the main cabin
and given a safety briefing, a guide to what facilities were available,
what we'd be doing, and an introduction to the crew of five. The plan
was for a cruise along the fjord, out into the ocean and back in to
moor in Harrisons Cove, one of the three places where boats could
anchor, the rock walls of the old glacier valley plunging straight down
to a great depth. We'd have dinner there, do a bit of kayaking and
shore excursions if the weather was clement, spend the night at anchor,
and after breakfast in the morning we'd do another trip out to the
ocean and back in to the cruise terminal.

And with that, we got under way, bowls of rich red, warming tomato soup
were served, and we set about introducing ourselves. The other
passengers, sixty or more all told, were a range of ages, mostly
between 20 and 40. No other teenagers besides John and Mary, only a
couple of other children, and very few of the retirees one might
expect. Perhaps they'd all gone on the other ship in the fleet, which
carried the same number of passengers in twin or double ensuite cabins
and cost twice as much.

There was no ship's library where I could release a book, but a few
books, mainly reference works on the history and wildlife and
vegetation of Milford Sound, were scattered about and I deftly released
a thriller amongst them. Not yet caught, perhaps it is still there,
stamped "MILFORD WANDERER" by some zealous crew member.

We were given a considerable amount of information over the next few
hours of the long summer evening. This close to the summer solstice and
this far south, the days were several miles long and the sun didn't
set until somewhere around nine or ten.

To begin with, we got the standard line about being lucky to have a
rainy day because we could see all the dozens of waterfalls rather than
just the two or three permanent falls. A standard line because I
remembered it from twenty years previously!

And another canned line: Milford Sound isn't really a sound -
it's a fjord because it was carved out by a glacier rather than a
river. Fjords are marked by a U-shaped profile if you include the
underwater section and as a result the sides are steep and the water is
uniformly deep.

Milford Sound was named after Milford Haven in Wales by one of the
early seal-hunters. Of course it already had a Maori name, a wonder
that for such a remote and rugged location the Maori ever penetrated
here. They certainly did, passing over the mountains via the route of
the present-day Milford Track, and they then built canoes to explore it
and mine the greenstone found near the fjord entrance, building roaring
fires amongst the damp rocks to crack the greenstone into manageable
pieces. Their name was Piopiotahi meaning "place of the singing
thrush", a bird now extinct here.

As we cruise down the sound the rain eases off and we go outside. The
waterfalls, the many waterfalls, are spectacular, plunging down from an
enormous height. The captain points the ship directly at one of the
highest. I know what's coming and I edge back to about the level of
the bridge.

The captain takes advantage of the steep side to nudge the bow right
under the falling water. One by one the passengers scuttle away from
this immense cold shower. All but one brave young fellow in a raincoat
and hat who shrieks with delight as he is engulfed in the torrent. He
loves it! We back slowly astern and he shakes himself dry, looking back
at the bridge with a broad and brilliant smile.

Further down the fjord we enter an area of high wind where the cliffs
on either side approach each other in a gigantic wind funnel. We look
high above and there is a waterfall flowing the wrong way - the wind
is actually blowing the entire flow of a large waterfall straight up
into the clouds. Awesome!

The sea cliffs are steep and in the case of those under Mitre Peak I
must use that word "awesome" again. They have been colonised in
most places by a sort of vertical forest, each tree interlocking its
roots with its neighbours, forming a mat that extends hundreds of
metres up. Here and there entire segments have ripped away from the
wall, one tree taking the next with it in an expanding domino sequence
until cliffsides are laid bare. It can take several decades for the
forest to work its way back up.

Here and there the cliffs are so steep that they actually project out
over the water. The ship slides close alongside and we are told to put
our backs to the rail and lean back. We do so and see the cliff face
bulging out above us, way, way above us.

The scale is immense. Milford Sound is larger than life and the crew
take pleasure and pride in showing it off. Up on the bridge one crew
member is detailed to look for wildlife and she announces a pod of
dolphins. We rush to the bow and there they are - Dusky dolphins,
natives of Dusky Sound further south, playing and frolicking around the
bow. They move with glittering speed, racing, chasing, speeding under
the water and reappearing under our noses. They vanish as quickly as
they came, but we stay out on deck as we head out into the sea.
Mary raises her arm and points - a bird, she says, a sort of duck,
maybe? A bird it is, the crew member on the bridge tells us. A very
rare Fiordland Crested Penguin, out fishing for its chick, snug in a
burrow ashore.

We go right out into the Tasman Sea before turning and looking back.
The entrance to the fjord is all but invisible, and we are told that
this is probably why James Cook didn't see it when he passed by in
early 1770. Of course, in his sailing ship he would not have wanted to
venture too close inshore, especially with the winds blowing from the
west, as they almost always do.

I feel awed by the presence of greatness. Not just the mighty sights of
Milford Sound, but the knowledge that here I am floating on the same
water that Cook sailed on, two and a half centuries back. Such a man to
have cast so long a shadow!

We sail back inside and the dolphins rejoin us, leaping out of the
water and zooming in for a minute or so of riding the bow wave. Of
course we've all seen dolphins before at places like Sea World, but
this is different. This is wild.

We pass rocks on which seals are reclining. Seems there were more last
time we were here, but there are maybe a score scattered around. I
refrain from taking photographs - we don't come close enough for
them not to look like rocks, at least in my base-grade camera with zero
optical or digital zoom.

Rainbows appear ahead as the sun slices along the horizon behind us
like a buzz-saw before finally vanishing. I try to take a few
photographs but the results are disappointing.

Coffee and tea are available in the main cabin on a self-serve basis,
and I drink several cups during the trip, not least for the warming
effect - out on the deck it is chilly in the declining evening,
compounded by the light rain and the ever-present wind.

And then we are moving slowly through Harrisons Cove, aiming for a
mooring close to shore. The larger Milford Mariner is already anchored
fore and aft further out, but we pick up lines secured ashore before
dinner is served.

Dinner is three solid courses, all of it hearty and delicious. The bar
is opened before dinner and drinks are available. I ask the crew member
working the bar for a recommendation and his face lights up as he
expands on the merits of the various brands, based on his long and
happy experience. It's all good stuff, however, and I enjoy the beer
he proffers as the best.

In fine weather there are wildlife cruises in the rubber duckies,
kayaking off the stern and shore walks, but the weather is fairly
miserable today, so we settle in the main cabin where the company grows
lively.

Just before I turned in I overheard a couple of the crew members
discussing a stunt - they were to dive from the top deck into the icy
waters of the fjord on a dare. Which they did a few moments later -
they invited me to join them, but I was prevented on two counts - I
had no "togs" with me, and I was in full possession of all my
senses. Swimming at night in a fjord - come on!

Finally the bar closed and the ship slept. I got up in the early hours
and looked out on the still waters, the waterfalls cascading down the
cliffs, the silent forests, everything silver and black under a
scudding moon. A cold, lonely, unearthly view.

And all too soon it's morning again, and the ship is alive with
passengers having a morning cuppa, shower, shave...

Breakfast is even heartier than dinner, and with everyone fresh, clean
and full, we head out to the ocean again. It is awesome, especially
with the new day a little clearer than the previous. With the sun
coming from a different direction we see Milford Sound literally in a
new light.

And then, all too soon, we are sliding back into the cruise terminal,
people are shaking hands, saying goodbye, dragging their luggage up
from below...

It is raining again, and I unfurl my umbrella, walk back to the car
park and ease my mind as to whether I left the lights on overnight. I
hadn't. The car starts easily and I am able to offer a lift to the
terminal to a couple of lanky Scandinavian backpackers. They hop out,
my family hops in, and we're off on the next leg, back up to Homer
Tunnel, check whether my book has been caught - no, it's still
waiting in the darkness, gleaming in the regular flash of headlights
- and then wind down again through the mountains past the lakes and
into Te Anau.

http://www.lulu.com/content/56751

Lee wrote:
Thank you all so very much for the information. And a great big thak
you to you, Peter. I really appreciate all the great advice and
information. I raelly enjoyed reading the passage from your book.
Although I haven't been on the tour yet, it makes it all come alive.
For sure I'll be booking the overnight tour on the same boat you were
on. We will be staying in Queenston the night before, as my friend is
doing the 4 day Milford trek. I will srop her off and then spend a
quiet morning on my own before heading out to the boat. By what you
are saying, I don't want to head out too early. I don't want to get
too tangled up with tour buses. So I think I'll head out around lunch
time. BTW, I think it's great that you've written a book and I'd
love
to know more about it and if it would help me with the rest of my
trip. I must say I didn't know about setting books free, but read
the
site and it sounds like a great idea.
If you can think of anythnkg else that will help, I'd appreciate it.
Thanks to you, I am going to book the overnight cruise.

Ah, Queenstown! Another highlight of New Zealand. Literally. An
amazingly beautiful place.

There's not actually a lot to do in Milford Sound if you aren't on a
boat. The steep walls of the fjord dive into the water and anything
resembling flat land is at a premium. The beginning of the Milford
Track - one of the world's great walks, by the way - is north of Te
Anau. Depending on where your friend is leaving from - often
transportation from Te Anau is included in the trek package - you might
like to spend that lazy morning in Te Anau itself, as it's a pleasant
town with some great lakeside parks. About lunchtime the road to
Milford will be clear of tourist coaches and there are several roadside
parks and walks and outlooks. The Mirror Lakes with their amusing sign
are worth a look, and if you haven't seen those piratical keas before
this, the stop just before the Homer Tunnel is guaranteed to have a
few.

From the hotel (and attached coffee shop) you'll see that famous
postcard view of Mitre Peak if the weather is at all clear. Grab a
cappucino and enjoy the sight. You'll get closer in the boat, but about
all you'll see will be a long cliff heading up up up. Mitre Peak needs
distance to appreciate.

My book is available on the net - it's a freebie download at the
moment, and there are plenty of photographs.
http://www.lulu.com/content/56751

Have fun in New Zealand - it's a delightful place and I plan to go back
every chance I get.

Pete

Lee wrote:
Thank you all so very much for the information. And a great big thak
you to you, Peter. I really appreciate all the great advice and
information. I raelly enjoyed reading the passage from your book.
Although I haven't been on the tour yet, it makes it all come alive.
For sure I'll be booking the overnight tour on the same boat you were
on. We will be staying in Queenston the night before, as my friend is
doing the 4 day Milford trek. I will srop her off and then spend a
quiet morning on my own before heading out to the boat. By what you
are saying, I don't want to head out too early. I don't want to get
too tangled up with tour buses. So I think I'll head out around lunch
time. BTW, I think it's great that you've written a book and I'd
love
to know more about it and if it would help me with the rest of my
trip. I must say I didn't know about setting books free, but read
the
site and it sounds like a great idea.
If you can think of anythnkg else that will help, I'd appreciate it.
Thanks to you, I am going to book the overnight cruise.

Ah, Queenstown! Another highlight of New Zealand. Literally. An
amazingly beautiful place.

There's not actually a lot to do in Milford Sound if you aren't on a
boat. The steep walls of the fjord dive into the water and anything
resembling flat land is at a premium. The beginning of the Milford
Track - one of the world's great walks, by the way - is north of Te
Anau. Depending on where your friend is leaving from - often
transportation from Te Anau is included in the trek package - you might
like to spend that lazy morning in Te Anau itself, as it's a pleasant
town with some great lakeside parks. About lunchtime the road to
Milford will be clear of tourist coaches and there are several roadside
parks and walks and outlooks. The Mirror Lakes with their amusing sign
are worth a look, and if you haven't seen those piratical keas before
this, the stop just before the Homer Tunnel is guaranteed to have a
few.

From the hotel (and attached coffee shop) you'll see that famous
postcard view of Mitre Peak if the weather is at all clear. Grab a
cappucino and enjoy the sight. You'll get closer in the boat, but about
all you'll see will be a long cliff heading up up up. Mitre Peak needs
distance to appreciate.

My book is available on the net - it's a freebie download at the
moment, and there are plenty of photographs.
http://www.lulu.com/content/56751

Have fun in New Zealand - it's a delightful place and I plan to go back
every chance I get.

Pete

Peter thanks so much for the added information. My friend is actually
being picked up in Queenston for her trek, so I will make my way to Te
Anau and then on to Milford Sound.
I read the 'preview of your book and it looks great. In order to
download the book, I'm assuming I have to 'tick' off download and
proceed from there.. But I have no idea what 2086 KB means. I have a
fairly old computer, which I really just use for my travel research
and emails. So I don't know if I dare to download something so big. (
It sounds big to me!). I will definately watch for the birds. I'm not
familiar with them, but I'm sure I will be!
Any other 'must sees'?

"Peter" wrote in message ...
Lee wrote:
Thank you all so very much for the information. And a great big thak
you to you, Peter. I really appreciate all the great advice and
information. I raelly enjoyed reading the passage from your book.
Although I haven't been on the tour yet, it makes it all come alive.
For sure I'll be booking the overnight tour on the same boat you were
on. We will be staying in Queenston the night before, as my friend is
doing the 4 day Milford trek. I will srop her off and then spend a
quiet morning on my own before heading out to the boat. By what you
are saying, I don't want to head out too early. I don't want to get
too tangled up with tour buses. So I think I'll head out around lunch
time. BTW, I think it's great that you've written a book and I'd
love
to know more about it and if it would help me with the rest of my
trip. I must say I didn't know about setting books free, but read
the
site and it sounds like a great idea.
If you can think of anythnkg else that will help, I'd appreciate it.
Thanks to you, I am going to book the overnight cruise.

Ah, Queenstown! Another highlight of New Zealand. Literally. An
amazingly beautiful place.

There's not actually a lot to do in Milford Sound if you aren't on a
boat. The steep walls of the fjord dive into the water and anything
resembling flat land is at a premium. The beginning of the Milford
Track - one of the world's great walks, by the way - is north of Te
Anau. Depending on where your friend is leaving from - often
transportation from Te Anau is included in the trek package - you might
like to spend that lazy morning in Te Anau itself, as it's a pleasant
town with some great lakeside parks. About lunchtime the road to
Milford will be clear of tourist coaches and there are several roadside
parks and walks and outlooks. The Mirror Lakes with their amusing sign
are worth a look, and if you haven't seen those piratical keas before
this, the stop just before the Homer Tunnel is guaranteed to have a
few.

From the hotel (and attached coffee shop) you'll see that famous
postcard view of Mitre Peak if the weather is at all clear. Grab a
cappucino and enjoy the sight. You'll get closer in the boat, but about
all you'll see will be a long cliff heading up up up. Mitre Peak needs
distance to appreciate.

My book is available on the net - it's a freebie download at the
moment, and there are plenty of photographs.
http://www.lulu.com/content/56751

Have fun in New Zealand - it's a delightful place and I plan to go back
every chance I get.

Pete

Lee wrote:
Peter thanks so much for the added information. My friend is actually
being picked up in Queenston for her trek, so I will make my way to
Te
Anau and then on to Milford Sound.
I read the 'preview of your book and it looks great. In order to
download the book, I'm assuming I have to 'tick' off download and
proceed from there.. But I have no idea what 2086 KB means. I have a
fairly old computer, which I really just use for my travel research
and emails. So I don't know if I dare to download something so big. (
It sounds big to me!). I will definately watch for the birds. I'm not
familiar with them, but I'm sure I will be!

2086 KB is 2 megabytes, which should fit on any computer. If you didn't
have 2 megs spare on your hard disk, then your computer would be acting
up in all sorts of odd ways.

If you have dialup, then the file might take a while to download. You
can judge by how long the preview took - that's about 5-10% of the
total.

Any other 'must sees'?

Heh! One or two...

Franz Josef Glacier. Not too many glaciers in the world that are so
accessible, and it's a dramatic setting.

The drive from Christchurch through Arthurs Pass over the Southern
Alps. You drive out through the flat and fertile Canturbury Plains with
the snowcapped Southern Alps growing ever more prominent. Along the way
in early summer you will see vast fields of wildflowers, their colours
shimmering in pastel shades into the distance. Some heartbreakingly
beautiful lakes, green grass sloping down to still, clear water, the
mountains rising beyond. The pass itself - there's a lookout right at
the top where you can see the highway passing over a viaduct that is a
pretty spectacular engineering feat.

Christchurch has possibly the world's best botanic garden, full of huge
old trees, quiet gardens, a rose garden that sprawls over a couple of
acres. I took a punt ride along the River Avon which circles the
gardens and it was just heavenly. There's a restaurant up in the hills
called "Sign of the Takahoe" which is modelled after a European hunting
lodge. Possibly a bit pricey for dinner, but a devonshire tea is an
affordable and thoroughly enjoyable experience. Great view, great
ambience.

Cadbury's Chocolate factory in Dunedin if you have a sweet tooth. You
have to book ahead, but you'll be bombarded with samples and
entertained by the jolly guide. The highlight is a closeup experience
with tons of liquid chocolate cascading down in front of you. Head for
one of the coffee shops on the Octagon a block away in the centre of
the city to wash down the sweetness. And check out the railway station
- an amazing confection of Victorian Gothic candy-striped stonework.
There's an albatross colony at the end of a hair-raising drive beside
the harbour and it is a wonderful experience to see the great birds
gliding in. Seals and other wildlife are visible from the cliff walk.

Kaikora has sperm whales and other marine mammals in great numbers
feeding a few kilometres offshore where the fault that runs through the
South Island runs into the sea, creating a series of ridges and
trenches that provide plentiful food.

The Marlborough Sounds are an intricate network of islands and
peninsulas - great for sailing, but be careful of where you go - the
wreck of the Admiral Lermontov cruiseliner has some awesome diving just
under the surface.

On the North Island, Wellington has the magnificent national museum of
Te Papa. You need a day (or two) to do it justice. A stunning location
on the water's edge, it is just full of awesome exhibits. The wildlife
gallery alone could occupy a morning. It has the skeleton of a blue
whale hung from the ceiling, stretching on and on and on...

Check out the "beehive" while you are in town - it is a huge circular
building that is part of the parliamentary buildings.

Rotorua is another tick on the tourist trail. A little hokey, but the
geysers and boiling mud are genuine enough, and the Maori cultural
displays are great fun. If you want to see more genuine Maori folk,
you'll need to go out to East Cape where the movie Whale Rider was
filmed. A scenic location in its own right.

Waitomo Caverns hold a special magic for me. There's an underground
river running through the caves and you can go "blackwater rafting"
underground. The highlight is seeing the thousands of glowworms above
the silent water, forming a natural galaxy deep below the surface.

North of Auckland are some giant trees in great forests and the
stunningly beautiful setting of Waitangi in the bay of Islands, where
the nation of New Zealand was born 160 years ago.

Can you tell I love New Zealand? Chock a block full of scenery,
friendly people, great beer, unspoilt and uncrowded but set up for
tourists. No wonder the locals call it Godzone.

Pete

Oh yeah. A morning balloon flight out of Christchurch over the
patchwork farmland with the distant mountains spotlit in the level
light of the rising sun is unforgettable.