Kayaking in Milford

After finishing the Routeburn, we plopped our smelly, damp selves down in the shelter right at the end and waited for our ride to take us to Milford Sound for a day of kayaking. We had about 45 mins. before we were supposed to get picked up so we pulled out our little stove and made ourselves some warm oatmeal - the granola bars we ate did not fill us up and we were beginning to get chilly from standing still. After we ate our oatmeal and packed away our pots, our van arrived to pick us up. Everyone got out and our guides began asking what warm drinks we wanted - tea, coffee, Hot Chocolate! How did they read my mind? After warming up with a hot drink, we hopped into the warm van and were on our way... I feel badly for the people sitting next to us because after 3 days in the bush, we were not smelling our best.

We enjoyed a gorgeous trip out to Milford. Large steep mountains carved by glaciers loomed on both sides of us and were covered with waterfalls. We also saw some snow on the side of the road... Before I began worrying that we would see more snow falling on us, our guide explained that this was leftover from an avalanche that winter... apparently, we were passing right through an avalanche zone.

After about an hour of enjoying wonderful scenery and listening to our guide explain the history of the area, we arrived to our kayak port. We all unloaded and went into a small shelter where our guides began handing out warm, dry, clean, clothes for us to wear while kayaking... long underwear, fleeces, wet suit tops, waterproof jackets, fleece hats... did I mention this was all clean too?! It was like Christmas in February! I couldn't wait to change out of my damp, smelly clothes! I must admit, we looked a bit silly in all our new gear, but I was finally dry and warm and excited to begin a day of kayaking in the rain (yes... more rain).

Our guide split Mally and I up so that I was kayaking with a Chinese fellow named Lincoln and Mally was kayaking with a CA guy named Amir. Apparently he didn't think two girls could keep up with the other pairs (ha!). We both enjoyed the new company at any rate. We all got into our boats and began to kayak out into Milford Sound. The Sound was spectacular... steep (almost vertical) granite mountains covered in greenery and waterfalls... the trees were all growing right out of the rock... there is so much rain running down the slopes that green can't help but growing... even if it is right out of granite. The water was deep and dark (from tannins carried down by the rain water) and even though we were in the sea, the water on the surface tasted fresh from all the fresh water that falls into the area.

We wandered around all day and at one point, we were kayaking towards a brilliant green curved shaped mountain, waterfalls falling down from the green walls out to our right and left, grey mist filling up the sky in the distance, and a pod (20-30) of bottlenose dolphins swimming right past us - simply amazing! We stopped on a small deserted rocky beach for lunch, then paddled along in the sprinkling rain along the green walls pass several more waterfalls. There was one fall that we could even paddle right under. If was a refreshing (and much needed) shower!

I could have stayed out in the kayak for hours and hours admiring the scenery, but we finally had to pull into the dock and call it a day. We changed back into our smelly clothes and then hopped back into the van to go to Te Anau for the night. I had my eyes glued out the window because I didn't want to miss an inch of scenery on the trip back, but before long I was fast asleep in the warm van.

We arrived in Te Anau and picked up our bikes at the kayaking center (they made it in one piece!) and then headed out to find a hostel... we decided that a break from camping in the wet weather was much needed. Unfortunately, after heading to an info center we learned that the nearest open bed was 30km away. So, after deciding that sleeping in our tent was better than a 30km bike ride with both panniers and backpacks we found a place to set up camp. After putting our stuff into our tent, we went to town in search of some real food! We had a nice Chinese dinner and then headed off to bed under the ominous looking clouds... praying for no rain.