Milford Sound June 17th, 2006

Our personal boat, Lady Bowen, only six of us on the boat and I knew 3 of them. It was nice.












Bowen Falls, the highest, permanent falls.



















An amazing view looking out on the Sound.













If you see bare parts on the moutain, they are from tree avolanches. And it takes over 100 years for even the moss to grow back.


















Me in front of Fariy Falls.





























Dave, Stephan, Jay and I in front of the Fairy Falls.
















This is the Fairy Falls. They are temporay, so if there is not enough rain, they will dry up.

















If you look really close you can see two colors of blue in the water...the more torquise part is actually the Tasmin Sea.














Another amazing view of Milford Sound












You see those fins...no they are not sharks...they are doplhins!!!! There was like 10 of them and they came right up to the boat!!!


















Stirling Falls-the second permanent waterfall


















Another amazing view on the way home.
















Stephan being a manly man and changing the tire and Jay trying to learn.












Dave waiting for the tire to be changed and in awe of all the snow that fell the night before!!
















Day 1
Well hello everyone from down under!! So These past couple of days have been crazy. I did my first offical touristy thing. Myself and 2 other Canadian boys, Dave and Stephan, took their car, and drove out to Milford sound. The drive is about 4.5 - 5 hours long. It took us 7. So we are driving in the moutians and it is snowing and we just want to get to Milford to get a place to sleep and grab some food, so any way we are driving and we pass this huge truck that plows snow and all of a sudden he truns his yellow lights on and is driving backwards towards us. We are like what is going on. He told us that you are supposed to stop when flashing lights on. Well excuse me for coming from Canada and only having to stop if the lights are red and blue. Any way he justs wants us to know that the roads are not good and we need chains on the tires. Man it is a good thing I am with a coule of boys who know to actually buy them, cause I know that I would not have. Any way we stop and put them on and drive on. After we get to the bottom of the moutain and the rodes are not covered in snow we stop to take them off. Well the boys got them off and got back in the car, go to start it and nothing. So here we are stranded at the bottom of the moutain, no cell phone service and itis completly dark at 6 at night. So after several failed attpemts on the phone, Stephan grabs his bag and is going to start walkingup the moutain to a help phone, which by the way is half way up the moutain wna by car is a 20 min drive, so off he goes and leaves me and Dave to freeze in the car. After waiting for 45min, we see car headlights coming and then leaving. Oh man this sucks!!! Then 2 min later we see another pair of headlights and that car actually stops and out jumps Stephan and this other Canadian guy Jay. So he drives us to the Milford Lodge, where we mange to get a room and a meal. Afterwards, the boys go with a guy who works at the lodge to the car and boosts it!! Yeah we have a car again. Later when we are hanging out in our room, we are told that the power goes out at 11 and is back in at 630 since the lodge is so secluded and runs in a genertaor. So off to bed at 11
Day 2
We get up and have breakfast and are on our way by 9 so we can get on the boat at 930. Milford is the most amazing thing I have done so far, well the only thing. So geogous. And the best part was the wildlife. We have a chance to see some seals, pengiuns and dolphins. Chances are that we would just see the seals. So we are on our way back and guess what, there is a pod of dolphins along the edge of the moutain. So we slow down and try and get a good picture. Doesnt work, but I dont care, just seeing the dolphins was the best part of the trip. So we are already to head back to Queenstown and guess what, the roads are closed!! Oh my gosh, could our luck be any worse? Luckly we are told they have to open right away for the tour buses. Yeah!! So we get going again, and we notice that Jay has a flat tire, we pull over and it is a good thing he pickedus up cause he doesnt know how to change a tire, so the boys help him! Finally we are bakc on the road again!!!
Amazing trip!!