On the Road to Milford Sound

Agra is believedsite of an ancient Hindu Kingdom, but the city
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January 6, 2005:
Milford sound. That was a bit of frustration in poor planning. I didn't realize that the routeburn track dropped us off only an hour away from Milford sound... Ideally, we should have hiked with our stuff and one change of clothes. Then gone to milford sound for the sea kayaking adventure and then taken the bus back to QT and turned in our tent and shoes, etc. But that isn't what we did. Instead, we drove that distance... to QT, spent one night then drove back to Milford Sound and spent one night and then back to QT. Essentially we drove three times along the same path. I could have done it blindfolded. On the bright side, the scenery was so nice you wouldn't want to do it blindfolded. Literally it was some of the most amazing scenery that I had ever seen.

Above: ElScorpio hiding out amongst the flowers. Watch out... that guy gets around.

Right: Josh in the flowers. Anyone ever notice that when El Scorpio goes somewhere, Josh isn't far behind.. AND they are never seen in the same picture at the same time?

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As one drives in into Milford sound -- esssentially a fjord carved out by glaciers-- mountains rise up precipitously from the valley floor. The water in the fjord was crystal clear and evidently the cliffs went straight down under the water level another 300 meters below sea level. On the way, we took our time and stopped alot along the way to take pictures of all the mountain scenes. We were particularly impressed by the wildflowers in the area.

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Josh also took heaps of video of sheep and more sheep as part of our New Zealand video series. There were fields of these gorgeous spiky blue, violet, pink and white flowers all along the river banks—making for an amazing setting for a riverside picnic. Everything was visually stunning. The only downside was the annoying sandflies that would buzz around your face incessantly if you stopped for a moment. Fortunately, things like that you forget pretty quickly whereas you remember the breath-taking beauty of the place... hopefully forever.

Above: Flowers, flowers, flowers, flowers, flowers.

Right: The road into Milford Sound. Check out those steep mountains, and the mist rising from the valley floor.

Below: More glacially carved mountains.

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We made it to the milford sound lodge and were quite excited about the pub which supposedly had very good pizza and sandwhiches... the reason for which we brought no food. Unfortunately, however, the food delivery man hadn't come, so we were up a creek. Fortunately the hostel was making french fries and BLTs. That is what we ate. Josh had not ever stayed in a hostel before really and this was to be his first night in a dorm room. I don't think that he was ready for it. He indicated that he didn't like the idea of sharing a room with me, three guys and another girl.

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Left: icecream on the shores of the lake in Queenstown. Yummy!

Below: Drinks Anyone?

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Josh was very quiet as I talked to the other roomies who were just about to take off on their own 4 day hike. They were collecting their food and organizing their packs... all the things that we had done just a few nights before. It didn't matter much though because we all had to go to sleep rather early. Josh and I had an early sea kayaking appt that we had to get up for and the electricity went off at 11pm every night. You couldn't stay up any later than that.

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Above: A glacial lake at the foot of a mountain. The water is crystal clear and the clouds are coming in.

Left: Rachel, heading towards campsite 2, near the glacial lake at the foot of the mountains.

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Josh was very quiet as I talked to the other roomies who were just about to take off on their own 4 day hike. They were collecting their food

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