Queenstown - Milford Sound

Queenstown, New Zealand - February 2000
It was early in the morning; around 7-ish. The sun has come up but there was a biting chill in the air. Shukri and I was in front of our hotel. We were waiting for our bus to take us to Milford Sound.

It was the end of summer in New Zealand when we decided to go for our honeymoon. After all the flurry of weddings, it was nice to have a week off to ourselves. We decided on NZ because it was a place that both of us has never been to before.

All I remember from my Geography lessons from school about Milford Sound was that it was a fjord. And since I've always loved places with picturesque qualities, it sounded like a great trip.

Around 7.30 a bus stopped in front of the hotel. A lady got down and made her way into the hotel without giving us a glance. A few minutes later she came out again and hurriedly made her way to us. At closed range we realized she was Asian. She started checking our names and when confirmed, started apologizing because apparently unbeknown to us, the tour was specially arranged for a group of Japanese tourists. Apparently my name sounded Japanese to them (reservations we made under my name). She asked us if we would like to change our tour to another day but as that was our last day in Queenstown, we decided to go ahead. She warned us that everything would be conducted in Japanese but Shukri said it was fine because he speaks Japanese. She looked doubtful so he said something in Japanese. The guide smiled widely and invited us onto the bus.

As soon as we got into the bus, everybody was staring at us. Probably thinking what these two ‘aliens’ (I’m told the word ‘foreigner’ in the Japanese language literally means alien) doing on an all Japanese tour group. We silently walked to the end of the bus and sat down.

About a half and hour or so, Shukri started to feel sick. Oh great! The only translator I've got and he's about to throw up. I quickly dug in my knapsack and fished out my minyak cap kapak, brought all the way from Malaysia (see.. it's times like this that men are thankful us women are always taking a whole load of stuff in our bags!!). Anyway, once Shukri felt his tummy settled down a little, he went straight to sleep. So I was left in my little Japanese world, lost in NON-translation.

I've read that the road to Milford Sound was one of NZ's scenic drives. The first half of our journey was mostly farmlands and I lost count of how many sheeps I saw along the way. We made a stop at Kingston to see the Kingston Flyer Steam Train, which is one of New Zealand's famous vintage steam trains. It still operates on a twice daily excursions between Kingston and Fairlight.

Further down the journey, we started to ease into mountains of beech forest along the way. Had a quick stop at one of the many mountain tracks into the Fiordland National Park. We had a quick walk along the hanging canopy-walk bridge looking out over the forest.

The next stretch of our journey took us into Te Anau for a hot cup of coffee and a slice of banana cake. Not to mention a long queue to the ladies. Te Anau is a resort town situated on the tranquil shores of Lake Te Anau. We had about 20 minutes or so to walk around the town and out onto the pier on the lake.

On the pier over Te Anau Lake

The drive continued into Eglinton Valley, known for the Mirror Lakes and a stretch of road called Avenue of the Disappering Mountains. So called due to the optical illusion that makes the mountain seems smaller as we get closer.

The Avenue of the Disappearing Mountains

Huge impressive mountains towering along the valley sides. It goes on to The Divide which marks the mountains that leads to Milford Sound. On this side is the Upper Hollyford Valley. Hollyford River flows parallel to the valley. We made another stop by the side of the river, having a taste of the fresh, clear water for the flowing river. The surrounding mountain was spectacular with Mount Talbot rising up from the valley.

Having a taste of the fresh water

Mount Talbot in the distance

As we approach Homer Tunnel, the bus made another stop at the eastern mouth of the tunnel. A magnificent backdrop of the valley gave the group a great photo opportunity.

Near the entrance of Homer Tunnel in the Hollyford Valley

Coming out of the tunnel on the other side brought us into Cleddau Valley, a sheer decent to Milford Sound. River Cleddau gushed along the valley floor. Another photo opportunity for the group. Looking out the window of the bus brought a magnificent (also scary) sight. The road turns downhill, precariously paved on the mountain sides only wide enough for two buses to pass each other, making a u-shaped turn along the mountain walls. A less experience drivers are definitely not encouraged to make his own way here as the plunge to the bottom of the valley means a certain death.
Cleddau River

Shortly we arrived at Milford Sound, and boarded The Milford Heaven for a cruise along the Sound. Prior to this, we had kept to ourselves, without making any efforts at a conversation with the others in the group. Mainly because they don’t speak English much and Shukri was still feeling down except for picture takings on our stops. So as we were queuing up to board the boat, one of the aunties in the group approached us, making small talks. Surprisingly her English was flawless with an American accent (we found out later that she’s a Japanese American, born and bred in LA and married a pure Japanese man from Tokyo). Shukri struck up a conversation with her husband in Japanese, taking the husband by surprise. According to Shukri, upon hearing him speaking, the other passengers could be heard swearing, “Sh*t, he speaks Japanese” or something like that. Apparently, on the bus they have been saying how stupid we were. So Shukri gave them a knowing smile and we had a good laugh over it :)

On the boat, we decided not to partake in the packed bento lunch, opting for our own packed sandwiches instead. We sat down at a table with the nice couple and had a lovely lunch. Right after, we went up on the open air upper deck to have a closer look at the Sound. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking. It is not surprising that Ruyard Kipling once described Milford Sound as “The Eight Wonder of the World”.

Mitre Peak, the highest peak on the sound, stood over 1,600m above the sea; a steep expands of rock almost a perfect triangle. The boat took us right to the very mouth of the Sound and out to Tasman Sea and turned around, passing Bowen Falls and Stirling Falls, two of the most stunning waterfalls along the Sound. On the cruise back towards the wharf, the captain brought the boat close to Stirling Falls. Everyone rushed to the port side to feel the spray and quickly those closest got themselves wet.

Stirling Falls

Stirling Falls close-up

Bowen Falls in the distance

When the cruise was over, everyone trailed away to the bus for the drive back to Queenstown. The return journey took less time as the only stop was in Te Anau for some refreshments. We arrived back at the hotel around 8.30 pm after an exhilarating day out.