Milford Sound

Milford Sound, New Zealand (Jun 3, 2008)

We arrived at Milford Sound in time for one of the boat tours. Given the enormous number of tourists that in the high season visit the sound, there are several companies with equally enormous multiple-deck boats offering 1-2 hours tours. This has been criticized by environmental associations, for the impact that the motorized cruise traffic may have on the fragile ecosystem of the sound.

Waterfall in Milford Sound

In the February of 2004 a spill of 13,000 liters of diesel fuel was found in the water. The spill  was apparently intentional, caused by inserting a high pressure hose in the tank of a boat, and forcing the fuel to come out. While there was no appreciable damage to the wildlife, the spill interrupted the touristic activities for two days, while the waters were cleaned. The authorities claimed that this was an act of eco-terrorism to protest the excessive number of tourists in the sound. Given that, we chose for our own tour one of the smallest boats available (still large, but not huge). In the end it wasn’t a particular good choice because the captain of the boat was more interested in showing the “postcard like” views of the sound, than the wildlife (the sound has a resident population of seals, penguins and dolphins, and we saw none). Still better than some of the humongous boats. The sound (which is actually a fiord), is in any case really gorgeous, with the spectacular mountains emerging directly from the sea (among which the iconic Mitre Peak). These mountains fall very steep straight to the water, with a lot of exposed rock and little vegetation, so all rain ad snow water flow directly into the sea in a multitude of spectacular waterfalls, like the “rainbow fall” in the image on the left.

Milford Sound, New Zealand (Jun 3, 2008)

Devil's Punchbowl Falls

Devil's Punchbowl Falls, New Zealand (May 31, 2008)

When we arrived at the Arthur's pass village it was raining. After parking next to the visitor center (which was closed), we found refuge in the Wobbly Kea Cafe & Bar, where we got some food and something warm to drink. If you search on the internet you will find some reviews of the cafe (even though, mind you, this is a small saloon at the end of -Middle- Earth... power of the internet) complaining about the dismal service. We actually didn’t have any issue. Sure the service maybe wasn’t the fastest but really, who cares? We were in a holiday, right? Plus, it was wet outside.

The

The Falls

name of the place is a good excuse to talk about the eponymous bird, the kea, that apparently is quite common at the pass. I say apparently because I am not sure we met any, even though we saw some large birds flying along the road that may fit the description. On the other hand it was raining, and keas are all but stupid and were probably hiding in some dry place. Keas, in fact, are quite smart, to the point of being annoying. They fear nothing (and humans even less), so they are commonly seen stealing whatever it pleases them from tourists backpacks. Closing the zippers does not help, they know how to open them with their beaks. They are large green parrots, and when not hunting tourists they like to steal the rubber parts from parked cars, like the wipers and the seals around the windows. Due to its character the kea has been persecuted in the past, and it is a vulnerable species. Fortunately is now protected, even though the New Zealand government had to promise compensation and relocation of troublesome birds to appease the people living in the areas where the parrots are common.

The Falls

When we finished our lunch we went for a short walk to the Devil's Punchbowl Falls, which are at the end of a 15 minutes trail. The trail crosses the river at the center of a glacial valley, and then climbs on a dense rainforest where everything is completely covered by mosses and ferns. It is not difficult to see why the fern is the cultural icon of New Zealand: it grows everywhere in the island's forests. At that point it was only drizzling, and the thick canopy above the trail was enough to prevent us from getting wet. The fall is shown in the background of the photo above. What I really liked of the place, more than the fall, was a huge tree in front of it, with a complicated fractal structure. The part shown in the photo is just one of the branches. It reminded me of the trees in Japanese gardens. You can see more of the majestic tree in the little photos above and on the left.

It soon started to rain again, so we went back to the car to complete our daily drive. Originally the plan was to arrive as far as Haast, almost 350 km further down the road from Arthur’s pass along the West coast. That was clearly too much, so we stopped at the Fox Glacier village. When we arrived there it was pouring, and dark. And I was dead tired for all the driving, so all we could do was to find a motel where to spend the night, and a place still serving fish & chips at that late hour.

Approaching Devil's Punchbowl Falls, New Zealand (May 31, 2008)