Fire, Flood, Pestilence

Constellations, Mirror Lakes and Waterfalls 

Yet Another Cancellation........or not....

After our wonderful evening dining among the stars, we were on our way back to our hotel from the Gondola station when we looked up and saw before us the Southern Cross constellation.

We had not seen it this clearly anywhere else before.

Not least as the evening skies everywhere else in Australia had been afflicted by smoke pollution from the wildfires.

But here the view of it was perfect and as we were further south we could see it clearly right in the centre of the sky immediately above us.

We saw the pointers first, then the cross itself with all the stars in its constellation, including the fainter ones which are not always visible to the naked eye.

It was wonderful and such a great finale to that most perfect of days in glorious Queenstown.

We had a 5:00 am start the next morning so we resisted the temptation to indulge in digestifs on one of our balconies but agreed to meet in the lobby at 5:10 am ready for our long Milford Sound excursion.

The alarm was set, a usual bag of essentials was packed (with suncream, insect repellant, water, first aid kit, warm jumpers and waterproof jackets).

We woke bright and early and headed down to the lobby where we met the others.

It was at this point that I noticed an email from the tour company we had booked the trip with.

The email was similar in wording to the one we had received when we were in Tasmania, informing us that our Milford Sound tour had been cancelled due to violent storms and flooding and that our payment would be reimbursed in full within the next 5 working days.

At first we were all shocked to have received such a notification again; this time so soon after booking our trip.

We tried to call the the number given in the email but as it was so early in the morning the office was closed.

But we weren't going to give up that easily.

We had been forced out of bed before 5:00 am after a pretty late night and were all set for an adventure so at the very least we thought it would do no harm to drive to the booking office to see if anyone there could tell us what was going on.

Failing that we would enjoy a great early breakfast watching the sunrise over the lake.

We fully expected the office to be closed at that early hour so we were amazed when we arrived not only to find it open but to find the coach there ready and waiting for departure at 6:00 am as originally planned.

I immediately went to the reception area and showed my email to the person behind the desk who apologised profusely and explained that having reinstated the tours from that day, no one had thought of deleting the automatically generated cancellation emails which had been set up soon after that storm a few weeks earlier and which were automatically sent to everyone who booked Sourhern Discoveries tours up to and including that date.

The staff were busily trying to contact everyone booked onto our trip who had received that email.

We were lucky not to have spotted it the evening before as I expect we wouldn't have necessarily thought it would have been sent in error.

Others clearly had and decided not to show up for the tour.

They managed to contact about half of them so we waited for them to arrive before setting off.

We were SO happy to have not missed that trip but we were truly sorry that more than half those booked onto our coach did, including the lovely family in the queue with us the previous day who told us about the tours in the first place. 

Complimentary coffee and croissants were much appreciated on arrival at the meeting point but not much consolation to those who could not be contacted and whose empty seats in the coach did make us feel a little sad at various points throughout the day. 

The Fiordland National Park 

https://www.newzealand.com/uk/feature/national-parks-fiordland/

We set off on our Milford expedition at around 6:45 am which was approximately half an hour later than scheduled.

By doing that it gave more people who had received the cancellation email a chance to be contacted and get to the meeting point prior to departure but the coach was still virtually half full when we set off which was a shame as the tour had  been a sell-out and so many people who wanted to book had been turned away.

Having enjoyed complimentary coffee and croissants at the meeting point, we all fell asleep immediately once comfortably ensconced in our seats only to awaken two hours later once we had reached the tourist centre in Te Anau where we could use the facilities, stretch our legs, get a drink and even peruse the well stocked gift shop. 

I ended up buying very reasonably priced Maori earrings and pendants for a few friends and relatives back home which I have ended up keeping as we haven't seen much of friends and relatives since returning back to the UK during the world's first full lockdown.

It was at this point that I read the information pack that our driver gave us when we boarded the coach.

He explained that he would be giving us a running commentary on everything we would see from Te Anau onwards but advised us to read the information leaflets first so we would have a better idea of what we were seeing when he was driving past a particular spot and telling us about it.

The official name of this trip was the 'Southern Discoveries Fiordland National Park Tour'.

We were very impressed at how much this driver actually knew without ever having to look at any notes or cues of any kind.

Considering he was driving a huge coach through difficult terrain, often on crumbling damaged roads, it was quite remarkable really.

Most of what our driver told us is also printed on the Newzealand.com website.

He spoke about: "The unique  natural environment" we would see on our tour.

In particular the "stunning fiords, spectacular waterfalls and snow-capped peaks".

He pointed out and told us about the tree avalanches that contributed to the storm damage earlier that month explaining that:

"Ancient rainforests cling impossibly to the mountains for as long as they can until violent storms force them to avalanche into roads, rivers or fiords below". 

It was these tree avalanches that on this occasion had been so violent that they managed to sweep away sections of the highway that we were on and fill the sounds with so much debris that until it had been cleared away the ferries could not safely operate in them. 

Apparently this had never happened before to such an extent. 

After our wildfire experience in Australia and now this, we were beginning to realise that was certainly a year like no other.

It certainly was that.

Our driver then told us about "the many waterfalls that tumble hundreds of meters into the massive fiords below".

And pointed out "shimmering lakes and granite peaks that look the same today as they did a thousand years ago".

He drew our attention to the fact that New Zealand has retained a link to its ancient geological past in a way that other areas of the world have not.

He defined a fiord as:

"A U- shaped glacier-carved valley which has been flooded by the sea".

And that:

"The fourteen fiords that fringe that south-west corner of the South Island were 100,000 years in the making, with the final details added during the most recent ice age just 10,000 years ago".

He told us that:

"The Maori attributed the creation of the fiords to a giant stonemason called Tute Rakiwhanoa, who hued out the steep sided valleys with his adzes".

But not long after saying that, he also told us that:

"According to recent findings' the Maori settlers had emigrated to New Zealand after NOT before Captain Cook had 'discovered' it so they had as much claim to the land as anyone else there". 

"We're all immigrants here", he said.

"And we all arrived at around the same time so no one group has a greater claim to this land than any other group"

That was the first of quite a few rather strange comments to include in a tourist commentary with a group of mainly foreign travellers.

Then with no hesitation at all, he went onto explain that:

"On all sides of the fiords, spectacular waterfalls tumble incessantly as the region's plentiful rainfall finds its way to the sea".

He quoted Rudyard Kipling who described this corner of New Zealand as "the ‘Eighth Wonder of the World’.I certainly agree with that.

He told us that "Milford Sound is always spectacular and at 421 metres, Doubtful Sound is the deepest of New Zealand’s fiords".

"It’s a haven for nature, with resident bottlenose dolphins, fur seals and penguins". He said.

He told us that:

"The remaining two-thirds of Fiordland National Park are covered by virgin beech and pod carp forest".

And that:

"A 500 kilometre network of walking tracks allows visitors to explore the primeval world of mountain peaks, alpine lakes and moss-carpeted valleys".

He had read that:

"In 1990 Fiordland was listed as a United Nations World Heritage site and given the name Te Wahipounamu - 'the place of greenstone', after the area's most treasured mineral resource".

He was clearly very proud of his country and this came through on several occasions even when he was not narrating.

On several occasions we encountered dead possums on the side of the road which he made rather disparaging comments about, describing them as 'unwanted Australian imports'.

Most of us did not appreciate that remark, especially the Australian couple sitting behind us.

His political ideas also came through on one occasion when he referred to New Zealand's excellent PM as a 'kindly lady who should focus on bringing up her kid'

It is possible that all the banter was an attempt at humour to render the pre-learnt mechanical narrations a little more interesting.

It must become a little boring having to recite the same tourist script over and over to groups of foreign tourists who you will never see again.

But, and this is an important BUT.

We all agreed that he was a highly skilled professional driver.

When we encountered the many sections of damaged highway  mainly from the Mirror Lakes to Milford Sound, we were extremely impressed at how well he manoeuvred that large vehicle along fragile debris-ridden slip roads or sections of highway that had completely lost the outer lane to the storm damage.

We felt safe with him at the wheel and that is worth a lot in situations such as these.

The damage to that highway was far worse than I expected it to be; we couldn't actually believe that the road had been reopened.

On several occasions we drove past huge sections of missing road with sheer drops into the valley below should the slightest error be made 

We were certainly pleased not to be driving it ourselves.

Notwithstanding our driver's political penchants or poor attempts at humour and innuendo, we were all extremely impressed at his extensive knowledge of the geography, history and geology of this wonderful area of New Zealand and his ability to narrate almost continuously from Te Anau to our arrival at Milford Sound all whilst negotiating a challenging alpine drive with large sections of the Highway missing.

If that's not multitasking I don't know what is

The Missing Road to Milford 

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.rnz.co.nz/article/ee5633c5-2aab-466d-a0bd-b0215d9af31b

The magnitude of the storm damage to the Fiordland area of South Island, New Zealand only became fully clear to us when we travelled to that area ourselves.

When we received our first cancellation email for the Milford Sound tour in early February, we were experiencing the effects of that same storm system ourselves in Tasmania when our flight back to Melbourne was cancelled due to torrential rain at Melbourne airport; consequently causing us to miss our connecting flight to the Whitsundays which disappointed us immensely and which compelled us to focus all our attention on what we should do next.

When you are travelling it is always difficult to stay abreast of National and International news reports as you do not always have easy access to them and your priority, by necessity, is to ensure that any travel itinerary changes you need to make, work well on every level:

Travel, accommodation, cost, food etc.

Just one oversight or error in re-jigging any of those and it could cost you dearly or even put you in danger.

It was only after we saw the terrible effects of that Fiordland storm ourselves that we researched it further online and read articles which described how awful it actually was for those who were caught up in it.

That storm system may have caused us to miss our connecting flight to Proserpine, but others in the Fiordland area of South Island at that time lost far more than that.

The rnz.co.nz website reported that: "A state of emergency was declared in Fiordland after flooding cut off the only road out of Milford Sound, leaving more than 380 people stranded". 

This is the very road we were on that day and in spite of improvements made to it since the storm, large sections of it were still missing or in a shocking state of disrepair.

The article reported that Southland Mayor Gary Tong said that "the state of emergency applied to Milford, Te Anau and Manapouri".

"Several vehicles were spotted on State Highway 94 at the time and emergency services were flown into the area by helicopter to check on the occupants of vehicles stranded on the road, tracks and camp sites".

"The only way out of Fiordland on those fateful days was by sea or air, which meant that vehicles had to be abandoned".

Shaun Liddy from Ultimate Hikes said that "tour companies were helping out with food and other essentials".

Emergency Management Southland controller Angus McKay reported that "the 382 people in Milford Sound at the time, which included staff, visitors and crew, were either in Mitre Peak Lodge or on the tourist boats.

"They have plenty of food and are safe and warm," he said.

"The Cleddau River and high tides had also caused flooding and staff were monitoring the expected rainfall and tides throughout the following few days, when more heavy rain was expected in the early morning.

The Milford Track had been safely cleared but Milford Road would be closed for some time due to the extensive damage we had witnessed that day. 

The Sounds themselves were also so full of debris that all cruises had to be cancelled until it was felt they were safe again.

We were lucky not only to be in Queenstown on the very day that the first coach tours were reinstated but to be fortunate enough to find tickets and to not see the second cancellation email the evening before.

Against all the odds, this trip for us was clearly meant to be and for that we will be eternally grateful 

The Eighth Wonder of the World

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milford_Sound_/_Piopiotahi

How to begin to describe the alpine drive through meandering mountain roads embraced on all sides by what must be ranked as one of the most spectacular sites in the world, is certainly beyond my literary abilities. 

Our arrival at Milford Sound was overwhelming. 

It is not at all surprising that it "has been judged the world's top travel destination in an international survey and is acclaimed as New Zealand's most famous tourist destination".

"Milford Sound is named after Milford Haven in Wales, while the Cleddau River which flows into the sound is also named for its Welsh namesake".

"The Māori named the sound Piopiotahi after the thrush-like piopio bird, now extinct".

"Piopiotahi means "a single piopio", harking back to the legend of Māui trying to win immortality for mankind—when Maui died in the attempt, a piopio was said to have flown there in mourning".

"As a fiord, Milford Sound was formed by a process of glaciation over millions of years".

"Milford Sound runs 15 kilometres inland from the Tasman Sea at Dale Point, the mouth of the fiord, and is surrounded by sheer rock faces that rise 1,200 metres or more on either side.

Among the peaks are The Elephant at 1,517 metres said to resemble an elephant's head and The Lion, 1,302 metres in the shape of a crouching lion.

Milford Sound sports two permanent waterfalls, Lady Bowen Falls and Stirling Falls.

After heavy rain temporary waterfalls can be seen running down the steep sided rock faces that line the fiord.

They are fed by rain water drenched moss and will last a few days at most once the rain stops.

"With a mean annual rainfall of 6,412 mm (252 in) each year, Milford Sound is known as the wettest inhabited place in New Zealand and one of the wettest in the world.

Rainfall can reach 250 mm during a span of 24 hours.

Considering over 1100 mm of rain fell in just 24 hours during the storm in early February 2020, it is hardly surprising that so much damage was done.

The rainfall creates dozens of temporary waterfalls (as well as a number of major, more permanent ones) cascading down the cliff faces, some reaching a thousand metres in length.

Smaller falls from such heights rarely reach the bottom of the sound, as they tend to drift away in the wind.

Accumulated rainwater can, at times, cause portions of the rain forest to lose their grip on the sheer cliff faces, resulting in tree avalanches into the fiord, such as happened earlier that month resulting in unprecedented damage to highways and the sound itself. 

The regrowth of the rain forest after these avalanches can be seen in several locations along the sound.

"Milford Sound is home to a variety of marine mammals, including seals and the southernmost wild population of bottlenose dolphins".

Whales, especially the humpback and southern right whales, are increasingly observed at the Sounds, though it appeared to be the wrong time of year for whale sightings on the day we went.

Penguins are also common within the sound, which is a breeding site for the Fiordland penguin and has subsequently been identified as an important Bird Area by BirdLife International.

To say that this is a tour that anyone who goes to New Zealand should do, is somewhat of an understatement really.

The newzealand.com website describes it as:

"Breathtaking in any weather, the fiord's cliffs rise vertically from the dark waters, mountain peaks scrape the sky and waterfalls cascade downwards from as high as 1000 metres".

"This is New Zealand's wild side at its absolute best".

Rudyard Kipling called it the eighth Wonder of the World.

For me, it is as close as one could imagine an earthly Paradise to look like.

As awful as most of 2020 turned out to be, for us it will always be the year we saw Milford Sound, one of the most glorious sights in the world in what must surely be one of the most beautiful countries on earth