ShirleyNZandOrangs: February 2017

Day 23 ~ Dec 12th pm: Milford Sound with camera problems
As I said at the end of the last post "another year?", & it is.
Oops!

They came, but at 1330 instead of just after 1, & we picked up a a Frenchman & 2 Americans on the way out to the airport. There were 2 English honeymooners already in the taxi when it arrived at Nomads.
I didn't get any names.
Don was our driver, the man in charge at the airport was Dave, & the receptionist was Danielle: it was a day of Ds in a similar way that the 30th of November 2014 had been a day of Gs~see blog.
That said, Blair (the pilot) wasn't a D!
He did remind me a little of Clive James, but that's not a D either ;-p

Blair/Clive, the aircraft & the Remarkables

Blair prepares for lift-off

A hill by the Kawarau. Possibly Deer Park
Heights, or maybe Queenstown Hill?
I should've asked Blair

Being 1 of 2 singletons (the other was the French guy), I managed to get a seat in the front, & had a great view all the way out.
Once clear of Queenstown airspace, we headed mountainwards, & Blair said we would take the north route over the Humbolts.
He said the peaks we would fly over had been used for the Misty Mountains. Consequently, I found myself singing the song in my head for the next 6 hours or so.

The Misty Mountains Cold - The Hobbit - YouTube

▶ 3:01

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEm0AjTbsac

17 Dec 2012 - Uploaded by Nevariy

Movie Soundtrack EVM The Misty Mountains Cold The Hobbit - An ... Song of the Lonely Mountain Performed ...

Bear in mind that it was summer in NZ, & the mountains weren't as misty or as snowy as they would be later in the year, or as they had been when I was over for the RWC in 2011. There were some lovely green valleys below us as we flew, & I think I saw Mt Aspiring in the distance on the starboard side (do they use port & starboard on aircraft??)
It would be nice to be able to give names to every river & lake I took pics of ~ as do the Maori, but unless some kind person reads this & tells me, I'll just enjoy the pics & the memories (with the song still in my head!).

While I was writing this, I asked Milford Sound Flights to confirm the Humbolts bit etc.
Here's what Phoebe sent:

Hi Shirley,

Thank you for your email and we always appreciate our passengers sharing their experiences.

I have attached a copy of our official flight plan that our pilots follow for our flightseeing to and from Milford Sound.

Heading into Milford, you pass over the Skippers Canyon, then out towards Glenorchy. You will have flown over the Humboldt Mountain range (indicated on map) which is just above Glenorchy #2.

The most notable mountains that you would have seen is Mt Tutoko #4, the highest peak in Fiordland National Park and Mt Earnslaw #3, the highest in the Queenstown area.

Depending on cloud cover conditions on the day, Mt Aspiring would have been visible in the distance on the right hand side of the plane, heading towards Milford Sound. It isn’t on the map as it a bit further north, however most days we can see it as it is the highest in Mt Aspiring National Park.

Phoebe

Flight Co-ordinator

Milford Sound Flights Ltd

Phoebe sent a flight plan, but I had 'a bit of a problem' getting Blogger to upload it. I asked MSF if they could send me another version, & the very kind Chantelle sent me a copy Blogger was happy with.
Kiwi folk are just awesome :-))
Hopefully your PC screen will make the image big enough to see all the interesting stuff on the RHS?

Anyway, this is what all the fuss was about: the mega Mt Aspiring/Tititea.

Is that a cool mountain, or what?
It is the image I have in my head for the Lonely Mountain, despite the other peaks around it.
I'd love to see it up close ~ maybe on NZ trip 5 in 2019??

Attachments area

Shame about the reflection :-|

This was a little turquoise cwm
we flew directly over

& this reminds me of a Dwarf Lord lying in his armour

The 1st view of Milford sound

The view north along the Tasman coast

A zoomed view of same: I forgot to set 'Thru-glass',
hence the reflection!

Banking over the Tasman Sea

The view south

Streams in the sunlight

Milford Sound came into view, & we flew along it & out towards the Tasman, before turning & heading to the tiny landing strip.

The Mitre Peak approach to the runway

Not sure, but it seems they built
the runway for the
Maximum Mitre effect??

The tiny runway didn't look so tiny from ground level!

Once we'd all disembarked the aircraft, we were herded through the new visitor centre building to our boat.

More Mitre pics taken, we cast off into the Sound, & you can tell how big it is by the apparent lack of size of other craft sailing back in.

I thought the peak on the left looked like a lion: lying & looking out to sea.
Ditto for this closer view. I think I
may have a vivid imagination
See my previous comment about the Dwarf Lord hehehe

We sailed along the south shore, & the bush came right down to sea level.

The Captain gave a commentary, but I didn't make notes about what he said.

Another 'Lion' photo!

There was also coffee, tea & biscuits available which I availed myself of ~ not having had a brew since before 1300 back at Nomads.

The myriad streams were glittering in the sunshine, & it's a shame that doesn't come across in the pics.
However, the stripey rock did in the one above :-)

Milford Sound (Piopiotahi in Maori) is
actually a fjord, & these steep
cliffs were carved by ice

I think this fall is the one we got up close
& personal to on the way back?

There is a 3-masted ship to the right of the waterfall which gives you an idea of how far it falls. Talk about being dwarfed by nature!

Another stream of silver ~
with apologies to Bob Salvatore!

I guess the flora here was happy with salt!

Our 1st view of sunbathing seals on the south shore.
A bit of alliteration there ;-p

The water was a glorious mix of blues, some almost green, some deep aquamarine, & some the beautiful turquoise I knew came from the glacial particles suspended in the water: Just as I'd seen in 2009 & 2011 at Lakes Pukaki, Tekapo & Ohau. See the blogs

I think they are trees by the beach,
not bushes !

As we got closer to the Tasman, the waters got slightly choppier, but were still lovely.

The colours of the bush were more
obvious in real life, but you can just make
out the red of the rata & pohutakawa

The scenery either side of the Sound continued to be stunning, & I had one of those moments wishing I had a better camera ~ or more knowledge of the features available on the Lumix!
In between wandering about fore & aft, port & starboard, & up on the top deck, I managed this pic of a little island with trees on. It reminded me that Matsushima Bay in Japan is still on my bucket list.
Maybe in 2019 when I go to the RWC there??

The Tasman is in sight

The boat went out to sea, so we had a closer look at the coastline from sea level, before going about & heading back in.

It was about at this point my Lumix battery died, but there was a plug near the coffee machine so I used that to get a bit of charge back in it.
I took a few with the mobile while it recovered.

The sun had moved during our cruise, &
the seals did likewise to catch some rays.
These guys were on the north shore

The ship was able to get close to shore
so we were close to the seals :-)

Camouflaged seals!

This was the waterfall we'd seen from
across the sound earlier.
We sailed up close & personal!

Like I said ~ we got Close

& despite droplets on the lens, I got this rainbow :-)

Some dolphins came out to play, as well,
but I didn't write down what kind they were.

Sadly, the Lumix died for good following the little bit of charge I managed from the ship's generator, before they wanted to use the generator for something else, so it was a good job the mob's battery had enough juice.

Some of my fellow cruisers

Bush all the way to the bottom

I took these 5 pics as we sailed by.
It's the waterfall where it seemed
too shallow to get nearer

There was a big waterfall off the north shore, but the ship steered clear. Maybe it was too shallow?
I'd noticed the slope was less steep than some of the shoreline we'd passed.

An archetypal U-shaped valley

Mitre Peak & lambent water
in the westering sun

A Peak picture

On the way home I had the back seat ~ the Frenchman asked to go in the front.

Just before I got back on the aircraft
I got my final Peak picture

Not including these 2.
The lines are the propeller blades!

This would've been great except
the propeller got in the way :-/

Looking back~the Milford airport

My imagination says there's a heart in the water?

We took the southern route back. It would've been a nicer trip if the woman next to me hadn't had a 'personal problem'!

I'd like to know which mountain that is.
I was on the starboard side, so it was to the south

Still singing the song in my head

This one is one of my favourites. Thankfully I was looking back away from the propellers :-) Shame it's a bit wonky!

I'd also like to know how long this fall is

Another blue cwm

Views like this make me want to get down
there: on foot or ahorse

Another view of the lovely, blue, Lake Wakatipu

We had views of the 2 larger islands on the northern arm of the lake ~ Pigon & Pig. Pigeon is also known as Wawahi Waka. I much prefer this name. It's not as though the island is shaped like a pigeon!?

Elfin Bay & Wawahi Waka

The Dart estuary & Glenorchy.
Check out the 2009 ride I did there

This may be where I went on the Earnslaw the next day??

The wiggly line is the Glenorchy-Queenstown Rd. I'd been driven down & back when I went for my Dart Stables ride in 2009.
Closeburn is off-shot to the right.
I went there, as well: searching for Ithilien, I found mint & had a lovely walk :-)

NZ is So awesome.