Sunday, January 14, 2018

14 January 2018: Milford Sound

By Dr. Mike Daven (Math & IT)

Today we headed out at 3:30am for the long drive to Milford Sound. It's located in the Fiordlands and Professor Robinson drove the 4+ hours while most of the passengers slept, including me! Once the sun came up, we enjoyed some amazing views, towards the end of the trip we passed under the mountains through the Homer Pass. This sketchy-looking tunnel is 1200m long and was constructed in 1935-1940.

When we arrived at Rosco's Milford Kayaks, the two guides prepared for the excursion. Blake, originally from the town of Nelson, NZ, set us up with all the gear we would need, and told us that today's paddle wouldn't be nearly as tough as the kayak trip we took last week! J.D., originally from Iowa, USA, gave us instructions about kayak safety.

Throughout the float, our guides gave us information about the Milford Sound and some of the local Maori legends. We were fairly close to some Southern fur seals who were sunbathing and a Black-backed Gull that wasn't too happy with how close we were to its nest. We also saw several small planes and helicopters take off and land. My favorite sight was the Lady Elizabeth Bowen Falls. At 163m, it's more than three times as tall as Niagara Falls.

It was a great day and we were all glad to have a calm day floating on the water and taking in these amazing sights. After the float, we stopped in Te Anau for lunch, then we headed back to Queenstown listening to some ska and similar music.

(Photos forthcoming!)

1 comment:

  1. Thanks for sharing the blog, seems to be interesting and informative too. Can you suggest some of the interesting places to visit for study abroad New Zealand

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