Starry Mountains

Sunday, Jan 18 6:09 pm
also 10:20 pm

We went on two amazing tour-things the last two days. One was in a boat along Milford Sound, and the other was to a glow worm cave. They were both stunningly amazingly beautiful.

Yesterday we woke up at 7 am to drive two hours up to the port at the end of Milford Sound. It was raining a little, and the six of us were decked out head to toe in waterproof clothing (nobody else there had rain pants. We're just that cool). The boat we were on was very pretty-- although it was a motorboat, it had huge masts with sails rolled up along the bottom, with large outdoor decks. We went up to the top in the rain right away, and were the only people to stay outside the whole time. The mountains were so amazing-- they were cliff-steep directly out of the water looming above to amazing heights, with clouds and mist circled around the tops. The water would have been crystal clear save for the rain and breeze. In the distance we could see mountains with glaciers on the top. Driving along the road and on the boat there were thousand feet tall waterfalls trickling down the mountainsides, with larger but shorter ones gushing down to the water. Because the mountains were so steep, the water was very deep close to the mountains. That meant that the boat could creep up to right next to the cliff. Our captain ("skipper" as they call it here) and other person who talked on the loudspeaker (we made friends with her early on, and she made fun of us into her microphone for being the only tourists outside) were very funny and playful, so twice drove up into the waterfall so the front of the ship was blasted with gallons of water. I never went all the way to the front, but T did, and got soaked through his rain jacket and pants. We got a fair amount of spray where we were as well. I think that boat ride was the prettiest place I have ever been. That's a pretty big statement.

Today, we took a boat right from Te Anau (where we're staying) to the glowworm caves. We were again the only people outside for most of the time, although the boat went much faster so the rain and wind stung. It was fun though, and multiple times I said "I'm flying Jack, I'm flying!" The entire boat (about 75 people) was filled with German tourists, who turn out to be much pushier than NZers or USers, which was amusing. After about 30 minutes, we got off the boat and went into a building where we waited to go on tours of 14 into the cave. Walking into it was exhilarating-- there were nicely build strong walkways, but in places we had to almost crawl because of the rocks (the tour guide told us before we left that we may have to "watch our heads"). As we got deeper the crashing of water got louder-- it was going amazingly quickly down the underground waterfall. Soon we got to the point where we weren't allowed to talk (it was so loud we wouldn't be able to anyways). Our guide (who was very the very nice, quite, outdoorsy-- well, undergroundsy-- type) got the tiny rowboat sized boat that went into the a completely black and quiet dark chamber, the end of the cave where thousands of little glowing dots on the ceiling. That was so amazing-- I had no depth perception, and the only way I could see the guide walking around our boat and ropes was the vague outline of missing stars. It was also terrifying, because we couldn't see our own noses, and at one point the boat stopped for another boat to pass, but on the side we were on we had no idea what was happening (there weren't any glowworms in front of us either, so it was very, very dark. Overall, that trip was fantastic.

Tonight, after dinner, we watched the most amazing 30 minute video in the local cinema. It is an award winning doco-type (but without narration) that has amazing music and cinematography of Fiordland. Most of it is shot from helocopters flying above the mountains. The places it showed were so stunningly, breathtakingly gorgeous that the beauty was emotional. For anyone who wants to see it (which I deffinately say everybody should) it's called Ata Whenua: Shadowland, by Murihiki FIlms (which is based in Te Anau, the town we are staying in). It was so amazing. Red snow, humongous cliffs, giant waterfalls.....

Anyways, it is amazingly late (almost 11!!!), and we're leaving Te Anau and taking the boys to the Queenstown airport tomorrow. I will miss them very very much, but I am very excited to get a camper van and travel with just my parents. I'm off to bed, night.