Day 4 Saturday March 16, 2019 Cruising the fiords
One of many photos I took that day while we cruised through Fiordland National Park, in the southwest section of New Zealand's South Island. What a beautiful day! This photo was taken in Thompson Sound, which was the second of five fiords we visited (out of 14 total).
The first fiord we entered early in the morning was Milford Sound, at the top of the map. The second was Thompson Sound, about halfway down the map. At the end of that sound, we turned west through Doubtful Sound to return to the Tasman Sea. Our fourth fiord was Breaksea Sound, then returning to the sea through Dusky Sound.
We learned that there's no difference between "fiord" and "sound". The early British named them sounds, but the currently correct term is fiord. Most of the fiords were discovered by James Cook in 1770, but the iconic Milford Sound was bypassed, due to its narrow entrance, until 1812.
Fiordland National Park is the largest park in New Zealand, and one of the largest in the world. It was set aside in 1904, and made a national park in 1952. It is home to several threatened bird species.
We got to watch the scenery entering Milford Sound as we ate breakfast. It was just before 8 am.
The further we went in, the more waterfalls.
Janet was up front in the 17th level lounge to watch forward, while I was on the 18th level where I could easily run from side to side for pictures. The retired park ranger spoke over the ship speaker system so we frequently got to hear interesting information about the scenery we were passing.
We occasionally got a view to the top of iconic Mitre Peak, the dramatic 5560-foot mountain rising straight out of the sea, but I did not get a good photo.
I stole this from the Internet, so you can see how it got its name - it resembles the mitre headwear of Christian bishops.
Many waterfalls. The more recent the rain, the more waterfalls. Once we reached the end of the fiord (9 miles in), we let a few passengers off who were doing an expensive excursion overland to Dunedin. We then turned around slowly at 9 am and cruised back out to the Tasman Sea.
The beauty was non-stop.
There were times we were very close to the rocky sides.
This and the next two photos are looking back as we were departing Milford Sound.
It was nice that they showed the forward view in the huge screen above the pool.
This is the shoreline view after we got back to the Tasman Sea and headed south at about 9:30. We took this opportunity to shower, then listen to a theater presentation by John van Tunzelman (Kia Ora!), the Fiordland Park Naturalist whose entire career was a park ranger there. We learned all about the history, flora, fauna, and geological phenomena of the park. We then thought we had enough time to eat lunch in the dining room before we would arrive at Thompson Sound. We didn't. Service was slow, and we could see out the windows that we had entered the fiord at 12:30. As soon as we could, we finished and got back outside.
Another beautiful fiord, and it had gotten much clearer and sunnier.
Fewer waterfalls than in Milford Sound, but there were still pretty ones here and there. Fiordland NP is home to the Kakapo, the world's only flightless parrot, and only 153 of them remain. They are kept on various islands, since introduced predators have made them extinct on the mainland. The Takahe is another flightless bird for which only 345 of them remain in a protected area.
Before the Europeans arrived in the late 18th century, the only mammal in NZ was a small bat. But the Europeans introduced mice and rats unintentionally, and rabbits, stoats, possums, and deer intentionally, all with devastating environmental effects. All these "intruders" wiped out numerous bird species, many of which were flightless due to no predators.
I can't say any more than these photos illustrate.
This was the junction where Thompson Sound joined Doubtful Sound. We turned right and cruised back out to the Tasman Sea.
Views in Doubtful Sound heading west.
An incredible view looking back.
Again, we could watch the huge screen to see the view ahead. In this case, the view ahead was to the exit from the sound back out to the sea.
We loved cruising the fiords, and still had two of them ahead of us that afternoon.
Almost back to the Tasman Sea, at about 1:30 pm.
Janet emerged from the Hollywood lounge as we turned south along the coast.
We are turning into Breaksea Sound, at 3 pm.
Looking back when we made the turn from Breaksea Sound into Dusky Sound, which continued inland for many more miles there on the right of the photo. Dusky Sound is the longest of all the fiords at 25 miles.
Dusky Sound was discovered and used as a harbor by James Cook in 1770, and it is believed his crew brewed the first beer in New Zealand during his stay.
I joined Janet in the Hollywood Conservatory to watch the forward view as we headed west.
One of many apiaries in the lounge.
Many sea lions covered that rock as we were nearing the Tasman Sea.
Little islands were everywhere as we were nearing the end of the fiord at about 4:30 pm. What a fabulous day! Over the loudspeaker, even the retired park ranger said that in all his years, this was one of the finest days he'd seen in Fiordland National Park. The captain and other staff would go on to say similar things about this wonderfully scenic day.
Once out to sea and heading south, the lounge emptied and we had it to ourselves. Janet decided to try her hand at a tune on the big xylophone.
As we were approaching the south end of New Zealand, we saw these white cliffs at Puysegur Point, at the opening of the most southern fiord in the National Park (Preservation Inlet). Overnight, our ship would round the Southern Island through Foveau Straite, which separates the mainland from Stewart Island, and we'd awaken at our first port of call, Port Chalmers.
They had this plastic bottle of Yao Ming champagne next to one of the bars. Someone said that Ming was as tall as the bottle, but that was not correct. The theater show was a comedian, and we thought he was hilarious.
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