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Rachel's Travels...
21 November - Was time to get back on the Kiwi Experience bus. Left Te Anau around 9.30am and headed back to Milford Sound. Stopped for a photo about 30 minutes later at the Eglinton Valley, then continued until we got to The Chasm (which I had already seen). Although the weather was ok in Te Anau, the closer we got to Milford Sound the worse it got and it soon started to rain. We got to Milford Sound just after 12pm and got straight on a cruise ship called The Lady of the Sounds. The boat had an open top deck that gave you 360 degree views, so it was a much better boat to view the sound from. We sailed under Mitre Peak, which again I couldn't see properly (the picture attached to this postcard shows what it looks like on a nice day!). Then we went to the underwater observatory in Harrison Cove. The eco system i the sound is unique - there is a layer of freshwater ontop of the salt water. This fresh water has been naturally dyed by the tanins that come from the surrounding trees. Also because the trees grow on rock and not soil, there is no sediment/soil in the water. This means that the freshwater filters out the light, making the marine creatures think they are a lot deeper than they actually are. So you get to see things that you normally wouldn't be able to ie. black coral. I saw quite a bit of black coral - which is actually white when its alive - most people only see it when its dead and therefore black.
We came out of the observatory and continued the cruise. There is a mountain behind Harrison Cove called Mt Pembroke and it has a glacier on it. We passed several nice waterfalls as we headed a bit further into the sound - but we didn't go out to the sea which was slightly gutting, as I had already seen this part of the sound whilst kayaking. But we did get really close to Stirling falls. These falls are massive and we practically went right under them - I got absolutely soaked. It certainly woke me up! - there was so much spray I could hardly see and the noise was so loud - it was also really windy. We also went past a sheer cliff face that had a big overhang - it was quite scary being there - there was recent evidence of tree slips etc so if anything were to suddenly go, we would be right under it. The cruise lasted about 3 hours. We then got back on the bus to head for Queenstown, going back first to Te Anau (that's the only road in and out of Milford Sound). Whilst we were waiting for the lights to change on the tunnel (they only change once every 15 minutes) we noticed smoke and a burning smell coming from the back of the bus - I was sat right at the bus. The driver had kept on the clutch the entire time and it was causing the smoke and burning.
It was a long drive to Queenstown - about four hours. Was staying in Scallywags again.
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