Small World: Me and John on the way to Milford Sound.
FEELING GO - QUEENSTOWN AND MILFORD SOUND
(REMEMBER: IF YOU'RE MENTIONED BY NAME ITS COS I LOVE YOU DEARLY. IF YOU'RE NOT, ITS ONLY TO PROTECT MYSELF IN THE LIBEL COURT)
After the wilderness of the past few days it was quite a shock to roll into Queenstown and be confronted with all the trappings of the modern age: McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Burger King etc, plus a large number of pubs and clubs. That sums up Queenstown: its busy tourist centre thriving on the through flow of, well, people like me. The photographer in Wanaka warned me that Wanaka was going like this. I can only hope he's wrong.
But I wasn't here for jet boating, bungy jumping, sky diving or sheep shearing. I had come to see Milford Sound.
MILFORD SOUND
The funniest joke in New Zealand, as copyrighted by myself:
Q: What did you think of Milford?
A: Sound.
However, with an early start and six hours of hard driving before even being remotely close to Milford, even I was finding it hard to still see the funny side.
You never know when that fickle mistress Coincidence will strike next. And she did on the coach, in the shape of Big John, a mate from University that I haven't seen for several years who was on the same trip.
Small World: Me and John on the way to Milford Sound.
An even stranger coincidence occured a few days later when I saw John's travelling companion in "Cosmopolitan", covering his privates with a packet of nuts.
The coach crossed a high mountain pass, which gave a rare opportunity to see Keas, which are alpine birds and also New Zealands only parrots.
A Kea.
Although Milford is called a Sound, it is technically a fjord, formed when a glacial valley has become flooded by rising sea level. Whether you know this or not is irrelevant, since there's nothing that can detract from the amazing scenery. Once more, here's some pictures to do the talking for me.
TOP: Milford Sound.
MIDDLE: Me at Milford Sound.
BOTTOM: Milford Sound and The Mitre.