NZ Adventures #12: When a Sound is Really a Fjord, Who Cares?

Earth Date:  Sunday, November 25, 2018

Driving through cascade-tastic valleys?
Yeah. Whatever.

It's Milford Sound Day!  It really should become an official holiday.  Not sure how Hallmark would work with that one, and while I want everyone to marvel in the majesty of Milford, I don't want them to on the same day.  It's a pickle.

Anyways, it's one of the places I've been jonesing to see, but it's also a really long day of driving, and we know how Jayme's felt about driving.  Not that I blame him.  Plus, he's a tough customer and is just so-so intrigued.  I'm hoping the Sound will wow him.

We have a tour booked at 12:45pm, so we head out early for an almost four hour drive to Piopiotahi, aka Milford Sound.

To the Sound that's really a fjord.  But really, it's so beautiful, who cares.  Well, maybe the marine biologist people, but the regular ol' tourist persons like us don't really care.  We just want to ooo and ahh, and gaze up in awe at the majestic heights and spritely waterfalls.

Milford Sound is a fjord in Fiordland National Park.

- A sound is a large ocean inlet.
- A fjord is a narrow ocean channel forged by the formation and recession of glaciers characterized by steep, vertical walls and a flat ocean floor.

We didn't get a close look at the ocean floor, but we can validate that the valley walls were pretty steep and vertical.  Steep, vertical and majestic.  Really, majestic is the best word for a place like Milford Sound.

The Drive

But first, the journey is it's own kind of majestic...

To get to Milford Sound, we drove through lovely pastures, foot hills, beech forest and finally up into cascade-tastic valleys of waterfalls to Homer tunnel and out the other side to more beautiful scenery.

Homer Tunnel is a 1.2km pass through the Darran mountain range.  It was started in 1935 and completed in 1954.  Thank you to the hard working folk who blasted through the range to open up the road to Milford.

It's one-lane, so we lined up with all the other rides to wait our turn.  Which really just offered a nice stretch-your-legs break and opportunity to capture the falls vaulting down the valley walls.

The drive to the Sound is a funny area.  You're driving through craggy wilderness with a line of cars, then all the sudden parking!  NZ has carved out a few cramped parking spaces and a commercial boat dock for the five or so tourist companies offering tours of the Sound.  And that's pretty much it.  Beauty + tourist trap boat docks.

Milford Sound

But it's really all about this...

The cruise was awesome, awe-inspiring and wonderful.  They take you right under some of the wispy falls.  They also offer factoids about the sights.  But you know how pilots often sound during their flight announcements -- like Charlie Brown's teacher?  That's about what the Captain sounded like.  But I'm sure the info was helpful and fascinating.
















Seal Rock is a fave basking zone for fur seals, and this day they were out in full force enjoying the sunshine.

Lady Bowen Falls

The two permanent falls are Lady Bowen Falls and Stirling Falls.

Lady Bowen Falls is fed by Bowen River which flows through the northern Fiordlands and drops 531 feet into the Sound.  A cool factoid:  the Falls provides hydroelectric power for the tiny Milford Sound settlement.

Stirling Falls leaps off a valley between the Lion and Elephant Mountains.

The other falls find their ways down the cliffs shifting into new patterns as they make new paths.

Stirling Falls

Those wispy falls over the lovely striations in the cliff face... /sigh

The cruise was an hour and 45 minutes; the drive was four hours.  It was worth it:

I hope Grumpy, I mean Jayme, also agrees.

Pictures don't do Milford Sound one bit of justice.  God did a really good thing when he forged this place. 

Goodbye Milford Sound/Fjord.  You are lovely.














Any sights along the way?  Sure, but we are not stopping.  Nope.  We were on a mission to and from Milford Sound.  I complained, "but you said we could stop on the way back." "What I said was 'that the sights would be there on the way back.'"  Devious semanticist.

Whatever.  I will take pictures.

Lovely views along Hwy 94/Te Anau Milford Hwy

Tomorrow, we are headed to Christchurch to see Jeremy and Matt, leaving one final episode.

Unexpected Discoveries in Omaha

I took a work trip with a few colleagues to Omaha last month.  It was a quick one-night stay in the downtown area.  I'd not had the privilege of visiting Omaha before this trip, so I was eager to fit in whatever bit of adventure Monday evenings offer in Omaha.  Plus, summer days in the 80°s was a treat compared to the Easy Bake Oven of the Texas summer.  You know what else?  To traverse Omaha from the airport, you visit both Nebraska and Iowa.  Bam.  Two states, one trip.

Separate from the effective meeting with our business partners, we did find time for some adventuring.  Shall we?

You know that Instagram -- you see something fun and immediately post your friends.  Well, newly into Instagram this year (#don'tjudge), I love some of the suggestions from the vegan folks I follow.  A restaurant called Modern Love was recommended on an Instagram post, so I text my colleague in charge of this adventure, with a joking "let's check out this place while we're in OMA."  Vegan comfort food.  Yes, we must have that in Omaha, land of beef & potatoes. 

The effective executor that she is (#shemakesitlookeasy), she let the business partners who we were visiting know that we'd be dining there for the evening.  Who knew I had such clout, to subject an entire party of like 10 people to vegan dining.  (I'll have to explore the extent of this tormentation...uh, clout, further.)  Upon apologizing sheepishly, I heard more than once, "they serve drinks, it'll be great."  Indeed.  Well, Modern Love was fab, and unless they are good liars, everyone in the party enjoyed their meals and the cashew cheese.  I especially enjoyed the cashew cheese and would consume mass quantities of said cashew cheese if I had the opportunity to dine there regularly (#friedmozzerellaFTW).  So, friendly business partners, should you read this post -- Thank you!  For hosting a great discussion and for a lively and tasty dinner!

While at dinner, a party member who is a local, suggested we check out a speakeasy down the way.  Of course we have to check out a speakeasy down the way!  Business, shmusiness - every day is an adventure.  We are told to say that "we're looking for the wicked rabbit" to the purveyor of fine cigars and spirits at the Looking Glass.

Our friendly hotel shuttle driver informs us with a pseudo-chuckle that it's still light outside and it might be shameful to get a drink before dark.  So of course, we invite him along.  But he doesn't drink.  Still, he is full of opinions.  We are not dismayed.  While it's only 8:30pm and still light outside, we clump into the tiny, fancy Looking Glass.  With a smirk, the clerk tells us to find the White Rabbit.  I'm overwhelmed with the number of sparkling bottles on the polished wooden shelves, so thank goodness an eagle eye in our party finds the pesky rabbit -- a bottle of vodka that's like a handle to a door in the wall.

Hello, retro 20s in the Wicked Rabbit!  We enter to cheers from those lined up at the bar, and make our way to a cozy corner of the sumptuous little place, and order a slew of fun drinks.  The long, elegant space is all gold leaf, dark leather and heavy velvet drapery with low flickering candles.

Vespa, Hanky Panky, Old Fashioned, Vodka OJ & a Martini

Drinks arrived with quirky orange peel adornments fastened with hat pins.  Such fun!

This was my first time at a speak easy, so of course I need to research.  "Speak easy" comes  loosely from "speak softly shop" during prohibition times across the 1800s in western countries.  They've recently come into vogue after a 2007 discovery of underground rooms in Binghamton, NY, which were thought to have been speakeasies back in the day. 

One drink, and we're happy to slip out the side door to stroll the block or two back to our hotel for an early evening, what with it being a school night and all.

Here's to fun work trips with great colleagues + a few adventures on the side.

Omaha, I'm intrigued and will be back to explore further.