The outfits that we wore to kayak were pretty funny. We had thermal long johns, a fleece sweatshirt, a rain jacket, a kayaking “skirt,” and a hat. The hat was definitely the best part though, because we got to choose from a bin of some very random hats. Cate and I were in the same kayak and decided to make ours a Christmas kayak – so we wore Santa hats! Kim and Lynn looked rather funny as well.
We kayaked for 4 hours and traveled about 14 km in total. It was really pretty and was surprisingly very relaxing. It was drizzling a little when we started out, but then it cleared up as the morning went on. (You can see the progression in these photos!)
They say that Milford Sound looks really pretty in the rain as well as in sunny weather, so we were lucky that we got to see it both ways. We basically hugged the coastline, then cut across the water and came back along the other side. When we were traveling along the coast, we got to see a few seals! One of them was really playful and was flipping around in the water.
When we were paddling across the sound, we went out halfway, then stopped and ate our lunches in the middle. In every direction you looked, it was just absolutely beautiful.It was an odd experience because our perception of size and distance were totally off. ALL of the mountains at Milford Sound are just so huge, that its hard to get a good perspective on how big everything really is, because they are all about the same size. The highest mountain there, called Mitre Peak, is actually a mile high, but it doesn’t really “stand out” as much as you would expect.
Similarly, there is a waterfall that is supposedly 3 times the height of Niagra Falls, but personally I wouldn’t have thought that it was even half the size of Niagra! (Here's Cate with the falls in the background:)
On our way back, the wind was blowing against us and it was very difficult to paddle. It literally felt like we were not moving at all. On top of that, since I was in the front of the kayak, the wind kept blowing the water off of my paddle and on to Cate to the point where she was soaked! By the time we finally got back, we were all exhausted from paddling, but I was definitely glad that this was the way we chose to explore Milford Sound.We even got to see a rainbow!
After getting changed, we got back in the car for our drive to the Catlins. Our next hostel was about 5 hours away, but we were hoping to make it to Nugget Point by dusk to see the penguins come ashore. There are 2 species of penguins that are common in New Zealand (blue penguins and yellow eyed penguins), but they come ashore in the night time to avoid humans. Some of our friends who visited the South Island a couple of weeks ago got unusually close to the penguins at Nugget Point, and we were hoping to be as lucky. Unfortunately, the drive took a little longer than we expected, especially since we were driving on a gravel road once we got off of the main road. So by the time we actually got there, it was already dark. We did get to see some penguins in the distance, but it was really cold out and was starting to rain, so we just decided to keep moving and check in to our hostel.
We had to stop to pick up something for dinner and we made it to the grocery store RIGHT before it was closing. We picked up stuff to make French toast, which we cooked at our hostel. We forgot syrup, but put sugar and cinnamon on instead. It actually turned out to be rather yummy! Our hostel in Papatowai was REALLY nice. It was called “Hilltop” and was a small little house with a kitchen, a living room, 2 bedrooms (our 4 person room and one double room), and 2 bathrooms. It had a very homey feel to it. We were all exhausted and went to bed early that night.
No comments:
Post a Comment