Fiordland National Park, Heaven on Earth

Mitre Peak...saw this :o)

Milford...saw this :o)

Well the ride out to Milford Sound was incredible, 4 hours, each way (but that includes some photo stops at some pretty amazing sites, like the Homer Tunnel, Te Anau Wildlife Park, Chasms, mini glaciers, etc). I guess the biggest thing that I realized today is that if you are coming to New Zealand, you have to try really hard to not come with preconceived visions of what specific places will look like and feel like to you. I had very vivid visions of Milford Sound, and that just made today weird. If any of you have ever travelled to a place that you have really really wanted to see, maybe you know what I am trying to say...Milford Sound, and the drive down Milford Road was better than I could have ever imagined, but wasn't exactly how I was expecting it, I don't really know how to explain what I am trying to say, but I think I would have been even more floored had I not imagined in vivid details what it would be like. I think it's because a lot of these places you just can't dream about becuase you just don't have the background to do it right. The only way to do it is to be here and to feel it. So in a way I was dissapointed that it wasn't what I thought, even though in reality, it probably was better. The fiords were indescribable. It was impossible to see each fiord in one field of vision, and in some cases you had to hyper-extend your neck beyond normal abilities to actually see the tops, especially when cruising right alongside the highest point in Milford, Mitre Peak. Some of the fiords actually had overhangs, which had giant pieces of rock break off and fall into the water only recently....it was quite scary being there...The best part of the day for me was when we cruised in over the part of the sound where a tributary empties into the main bay. I had seen an aerial shot of this part in a book that I bought and obviously know that I wouldn't have been able to see the color formation in the water below because I was flat on the water but once I identified the spot, it felt surreal as I had starred at this spot in books for the past few months. Again, I saw it...but never believed that it was really there...until I was on top of it. Also during our cruise, we saw a few bottle nose dolphins perform some tricks for us. It was a 2-hour cruise, but way too short. The conditions were so good though that we made it out to the open Tasman Sea, where they don't usually get to go. There were some people kayaking the Sound and I know that I will be doing that the next time. It was a crystal clear day which was really great for pictures, but there were only 4 major waterfalls happening. They told us that it rains at Milford almost 250 days of the year (it is the wettest part of NZ), and if you visit Milford Sound on a rainy day, you can see up to 100,000 waterfalls. I can't even imagine it being more spectacular than it was for us today.

Tonight me and Eddie are having a quiet night, all the people from our hostel are gone our drinking and Melissa went with them...all I think of is Aruba...but she is 26 now and quite capable of making her own decisions. :o)

I can't wait to get home now, tomorrow is our LAST full day in the South Island, and I will be spending it with Eddie in the River for a 12-hour fishing adventure. He will be fishing for 12 hours and I will be taking pictures of him for 12 hours...and hopfully getting my tan back that seems to have dissapeared in the South Island. Then we will be all over the place for the next week. Looking forward to moving along, Eddie will be taking the same plane with us back to Auckland, but then he will be going to Fiji for a day before heading to LA. I will be able to meet him in LA on Saturday and spend the day as his stopover is 10 hours. But he is not staying there with us, he'll be right home after that, early Sunday morning and I'll be getting home late Sunday night (well 1:45 am Monday morning-Canadian time).

We are very excited to see everyone and to tell you our story.