After Mt. Aspiring we drove to Queenstown to eat Fergburgers and shower. Darren performed a hat trick and ate Fergburgers for three meals in a row, while Wesley went mountain biking and I wandered around in search of a down coat. We also ran into every other solar car person who is in New Zealand: one group had the room next to us, and we ran into another group while getting burgers. (In case you couldn't tell, burgers are a major attraction in Queenstown.)
We drove down to Te Anau for a night of camping, then along the Milford Road for a day hike up to Marian Lake-one of our few day hikes on this trip. On our way out we saw two people in chest-high waders running down the road and thumbing for rides, so we pulled over. They said they had been out kayaking and just needed a ride a few kilometers up the road to their car. We wanted to give them a ride but all of the spare seats in our van were packed with food and gear, so we opened the sliding door and told them to hold on to the roof rack. They cheerfully obliged, saying "we were born to hold roof racks!"
A few days later when we went on a cruise on Milford Sound we went up to the bridge to talk to the skipper and found out that he was also a kayaker. I mentioned picking up the other two and he said "Oh yeah, that must've been Ricky and Gonzo!" Gonzo was the one with the ridiculous mustache, and the name fit him perfectly.
(Pics: Ricky and Gonzo; Milford Sound is too big for my phone to comprehend; we're on a boat!)
On that same Milford Sound cruise the skipper put the nose of the boat under a waterfall and we stood under it. We also saw waterfalls that had stopped falling because the wind was so strong; seals flopping around on the rocks; and penguins.
(Pic: under a waterfall.)
The penguins were awesome. They're very rare and when they swim they look like porpoises: they pop out of the water every few feet for air, then duck back under. Or should I say penguin back under?
(Pic: the only evidence I have that I saw a penguin. Can you spot it?)
Milford Sound is amazingly, overwhelmingly large. It's actually a fjord, not a sound, because it was cut by a glacier. It has towering walls on both sides and becomes almost invisible when you go out to the Tasman Sea, because it turns right before it meets the sea.
There are trees growing on many of the cliffs, and every now and then there are tree avalanches. There is almost no soil, but instead moss attaches to the rocks and trees grow on that. Every now and again a heavy rainfall adds too much weight to the trees and moss and they slide down into the sound.
(Pic: one of many waterfalls.)
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