Day 3 sailing to Fiordland
We had our
clothes already laid out when the alarm rang at 6am. The early rise was so we
could catch the ship entering Milford Sound. Curiously, captain Cook made two
voyages to the area and missed the sound on both occasions. The entry to the
sound can seem well hidden. Our first of the glaciers and peaks was at sunrise
and in the distance the land mass seemed to be a distant greyish cloud. We
walked around the decks to find the best vantage point and opted for one of the
higher decks. At first we seemed to be part of only a handful of passengers
interested in the sight, but one after the other they emerged and crowded near
the rails.
As the ship
passed into the sound, the hills changed from grey shapes to densely forested
sheer surfaces. The Queen Elizabeth is a massive ship but we were dwarfed by
the fjords al around us. A pilot boat had delivered a ranger to the boat and
throughout the day we were treated to a wonderful running commentary on the
history, geography and wildlife of the region. At some stages f the journey the
ship seemed to only have 20 metres of spaces on either side as it glided deep
into the sound, before turning and working its way back out and south along the
coast. With coffee and hot chocolate in hand we watched some gloriously
impressive jagged mountain ranges slip by. The fjords stretched along for many
kilometres. Hungry after a couple of hours of sightseeing we went back to the
Lido for breakfast.
We had
brilliant, clear, sunny weather for this part of the journey and soon the long
trousers and puffa jackets had to be shed. There was a bit of a mad search in
the cupboards as I thought that I may have culled too hard and left the shorts
out of the luggage, but no, they were hiding in the back. We changed into
shorts and caps and returned to the top decks as the ship made its way in and
out several other sounds and from west to east along the south coast of NZ.
Glorious as the landscape was, I found myself snoozing and reading Untold
Stories by Alan Bennett. I couldn’t help but think how we would have loved to
bring my mum on a trip like this. She would have loved the sights, the food,
the dancing, the mingling. How sad that at a time of her life when all this was
within reach, she dies so suddenly.
We had done
a lot of sitting down on day 3 so a few laps of the deck were needed to get our
10,000 steps in and there was just enough time to get them in before dinner. We
were back in the Tasman Sea by this time and the sea has lost the green tinge
it had along the coast and put on a very deep blue. The last of the sun was a
golden yellow and the sky a crisp blue.
Dinner was
in the Lido as I really wanted to try the carvery. While I got a very nice cut of
pork, Johnny’s was a bit disappointing. We sat next to a Lebanese couple that
had moved from their house of 30 years to Narre Warren. They’d had a hell of a
year with their son dying after an accident, Malike suffering a heart attack,
his mum dying suddenly from a thrombosis and then a second heart attach for
Malike. They decided they’d had enough warnings, threw in the towel and had a
complete life change.
We thought
we would get along to the theatre after dinner as there was a musical
performance. We were shocked to find that every seat in that 1000 seat theatre
was full. We ended up standing at the back. Next time, we’ll arrive earlier.
