Tree-alanche

Today we left Invercargill, bright and early. I mean awake at 6:45 and getting on the road before 8 early. (It would have been earlier if we hadn't taken our time with breakfast and chatting with our host.) And by bright I mean....well it was kinda sunny actually. The rain had eased up - there were a few more drizzles on the road, but it seemed the worst of the weather had passed. And quick side note, our hosts had a cat, her name was Cuddles, and when I was putting my stuff into the car, I left the trunk open for a minute to grab my other bag, and when I had returned, Cuddles had jumped inside. 'Twas very cute. But Cuddles was left behind, all safe and warm in the living room when we actually departed. (I double checked.) We had to have an early departure because today we had to drive to Te Anau (which can be pronounced Te An-oh) and be here before 9:50. And that was because we had booked a tour! A break from driving! Hooray! We were taking a bus from Te Anau to Milford Sound, where we would then get on a ferry, cruise around le Sound, then return back by bus to Te Anau. The bus drive was such a wonderful break honestly. I sat in the back of the bus, me and Sarah were like the only ones back there (there were multiple people on this tour though) and I could swap sides as the views demanded and snap as many pictures as my heart wanted. Were any of them good? Well, not sure about the bus ones, but *I* think so. You can judge but I'll still like some. And the drive into the Fjordlands (which is where Milford Sound is) is incredible. It starts off by a lake (in Te Anau), travels through some fields with some mountains in the distance, kinda what we were getting used to for the scenery on this trip.....but then....

we crossed into the World Heritage site And the dramatic shift was nuts The factoid we were told several times by brochures, our bus driver, our ferry operators, and even some very talkative birds (kidding about them) Is that Milford Sound is actually a Fjord And a fjord is classified by it's "U" shaped structure, where a glacier carved out the valley leaving sheer cliffs and the flat bottom. A sound is a "V" shaped structure, where a RIVER carved out the valley And we go from this sheep grazing land, started to enter this forest dominated by Beech trees and then BOOM The cliffs soar to either side of us, the fields are flat. And I'm not kidding about how sheer these cliffs are. BUT these ARE. NOT. barren cliffs! They are populated by beech trees, moss, lichen, algae We're just looking at this massive forest exist on like, a 90 degree slope (okay, 70degree?) AND the mountains are mostly granite! These trees are determined man. Turns out it's just how beech trees work. They have shallow roots, and they intertwine those roots, so you only need like one tree to get purchase in the stone and the other trees can just hold on for dear life.

Which will explain the "scars" in the mountains. Sometimes those one trees with purchase, these anchor trees, they lose their grip and bring everyone else with them. I mean, same. One thing doesn't go my way and I want to bring everyone down with me. (I kid.) So, the tree avalanches are the only thing that really break up the look of the mountains surrounding Milford sound. That and the hundreds of waterfalls. Because it wasn't just the glacier made valley that makes Milford Sound neat. It's also the fact that it's a temperate rainforest, and that the gray and rainy days finally paid off because the valley leading to Milford Sound had so many waterfalls on top of stunning vistas. We even saw a rainbow! (We actually saw several today.) So we drive from sheep fields, to glacier formed valley, to rainforest... and we're not even on the water yet! The bus stopped a few times to let us walk around, take pictures, (bathroom break) and we still were a timely group. We're getting close to the end of the drive and we have to also go through a tunnel which will spit us out on the side where we'll get on our cruise, but as we exited the dark tunnel , arriving on the other side of the rainforest, we were greeted by cloud capped mountains leading down to the Fjord. I think the dramatic reveal was helped by the Jurassic Park theme being played by our driver, but it was astounding regardless. We got out one last time to take pictures of where T-rexes would roam... which I forgot to say earlier Apparently these beech trees that populate the area - they are still extremely similar to the beech trees of 40 million years ago? Because, as I'm sure we all know, New Zealand broke off from the super continent Gondwana, and the beech trees it kept as a souvenir don't travel well (seeds die in salt water, pollinate by large seeds, no mammals to disperse the seeds for like all of it's history, and birds also aren't a big fan so no spread that way, and it takes like 3-5 years to germinate) So yeah, it was like stepping back in time....if you looked just at the landscape and ignored the introduced birds and road, and tourists.... We already get to spend a lot of time here, but we keep coming across these things where, yes, you can do it in a day, but you could also take several days. Spend the night in Milford Sound? I wish we could have! (Well, time is one reason we can't stay several days in each place...the other reason is *m o n e y* ) The cruise itself was also nice. We started sitting inside (it was drizzling again) and we used the time to get some lunch. We sat one green velvet couches, next to some other American tourists from Oklahoma, but shortly after we launched, we quickly found ourselves outside as the views were just a bit better without a window in front, and we cruised the fjord. We saw some seals sunning themselves on a rock (the rain had gone again), saw several more permanent waterfalls (not ones that popped up when it rained) and tried to see some sky above the mountains. You had to cranneeeee your neck to see the top. Descriptions don't do this place justice. At one point it got me thinking about my size. You look at the night sky, and you can feel small. There's so much space (literally and figuratively) above you that you see how insignificant you are in the grand scheme of things (well, some people do. I do.) But then you try to look at the peaks here....and you keep looking....and keep looking....and your bending backwards trying to look up, and it's the actual physical sensation of being small. You are a fragment, an actual speck in comparison. Water so deep below you, the walls so high above you, and there is nothing to be done about it. These walls have existed long before you and your family existed, and will exist long afterwards. I'm not sure I was humbled by the thought - more like bullied? Definitely intimidated. Still, 100/10, would absolutely be bullied again. The cruise ended all too soon, and we were back on the bus to Te Anau - the express ride this time. No stops. We made it back by 5, and Sarah and I grabbed sandwiched from a cafe, found out the cafe had closed but they had been too nice to say anything to us (I was looking at the empty tables and was like..."Why is no one here?") We took our sandwiches to go so they could actually close, and ended up eating in a park. The park had this thing where they had put up a children's book around the path, and after we ate, we walked and read the story as we came across it. We were big fans - It was called The Grizzled Grist Does Not Exist. Meandered to the lake, then went to where we were staying (a hotel this time that has all the rooms look like little store fronts on the outside) and called it a night. We've got an easy day tomorrow which is nice, but does involve more driving. And unfortunately, I started typing this late, so I know I rambled, was a bit disjointed.... But being more eloquent would still not make it any more easy or possible to describe the Fjord lands.