I stopped at the pharmacy on the way home to pick up something for the nasty bites I sustained at Mt Cook - sandflies! Nasty little critters. I now have some itch-aid and insect-repellent. I HAD to do something because I have never scratched bites like these before - and then they swell up and ache too. All at 2 or 3 in the morning. Is there no peace for the wicked ?
We had to be back at reception for a weather-check at 1pm, so we got here and did that. Thumbs up! so it was pack the bag, get sleeping babe ready for the pick-up and gather ourselves towards the door. We were flown in a 6-seater Cessna which was pretty darn noisy (aren't they all?), but the views from 10 000 feet were breath-taking, and on such a clear day the viz was fabulous. Did I mention that Keith took many great pics ? Well, Keith took loads of photos. I think we came home with 500 yesterday. Only down-side was that there were no head-phones for Zack, so I had to hold my hands over his ears for all of the flight - you start getting a cramp in your bicep from holding it at such an odd angle. We looped out over the Milford Sound (which is actually a fjord) and then came in to land on a teeny airstrip. Keith and I were both feeling a bit queasy by the time we touched down, but Zack was an angel and slept thru most of the 40 minute flight - thank goodness! We took a shuttle to the harbour where we boarded a 'cruise' around the Sound's perimeter which must've lasted about 1 3/4 hours. It is exactly what you'd imagine a fjord to be - very steep sloping sides, and in this case, covered in dense tropical forests.
The fjord is a mixture of fresh and salt water - about 8m deep of the surface water is fresh, and below that is salt water. We saw some dolphins, and Clive tells us that there are enormous manta rays that live in the Sound too. The waterfalls into the fjord were beautiful being very thin, and often blowing sideways in the breeze. Zack put his best foot forward for the skipper and was allowed to steer the boat – it makes such a difference when someone has kids of their own, or spends time with children regularly. It means they just have the skills to deal with little people who are bored. This guy was great!
After getting back to shore, we took the bus back to the airstrip where our pilot was waiting. He's done about 650 hours of flying, so not a huge amount, but you need a special license to fly in and out of M S, so he had some skill. It's a steep climb to get outta there, so it was all hands to the flaps. On the return journey I got to man the lens, so Keith sat with Zack on his lap doing the hands for ear-phones thang. Urk! I can understand why Keith was white and sweating and feeling really green - you spend too much time behind that lens and you start feeling really disorientated. The mountains out there are just spectacular - REALLY spectacular. I took loads of shots of snowy peaks, and water and rocks. It was quite Lord of the Rings, but also just awesome to look at. There is a hiking trail that goes out to Milford Sound, over the mountains - I don't know how many days it is, but boy, it looks like such a wonderful hike to do. I said to Di today that we should plan to do it in about 10 year's time - we come over with the grand-parents and leave the kids in Otautau and do the hike with Di & Clive. It would be awesome!
We got back last night at 6:15pm, really tired and I was feeling a bit head-achy. I think it's the altitude and all the sunshine too. Quite alot to adjust to in a short space of time. Zack wasn't a happy camper either with nasty nappy rash now from the teething, so it was nudey time and he ran around for a while "getting some air". Keith went off later in the evening and took the gondola up to photograph the sunset - again, some lovely pics. We down-loaded all the pics last night, just before bed and spent some time pouring over them. Really very special memories there.
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