May 16, 2014 To Milford Sound

Weather as you now know is tricky here and depends on which side of mountain range you land. We are on the drier side even though this is a ski town, and we are to visit the wet side on a 10 passenger plane. So the weather gods must be with you. And they are! We get the 9AM all clear call and off we go for one of the most exciting days this country boy has ever had.

Straight for the snow covered mountain range we go and the pilot is happy to inform us that we have picked a great and exceptional day with clear sky and visibility. We fly right up to the mountain tops that had us thinking we could step out for a walk. Stunning! Mouths open with two many wows to count.

Following thrill after thrill we fly the length of Milford Sound. Sound is not appropriate as it qualifies as a fiord because it was formed by a glacier and is u-shaped. But the experience is beyond. Now we board a ferry type boat to travel and get the full impact of cliffs rising straight up from waters edge over a thousand feet with at least 3 large waterfalls to view along the way.

yyg`

We pull right up to the largest waterfall and that sets the camera shutters on light speed all round. We luck out as the weather holds just long enough for us to fly back. The alternative is to drive for several hours and flying sounds so much better. A front is moving in so we get a couple of bumps on the return flight but we all keep our lunch where is belongs and the landing is perfect - we all survive with memories that will last forever.
Time for dinner and Queenstown has a famous burger place with a line out the door so it must be good. We are early so we hatch a plan that sounds just perfect. We take on the famous burger, give it 4 stars, Jim finds huge buckets of pop corn and we head to our Queenstown home. Out comes the wine and rent "The Hobbit". Perhaps we were over stimulated but we just made it through the movie and called it quits for the night around 9.

Posted with Blogsy