Milford Sound in Sun and Rain

Like Norway, fiords are a big tourist atraction. We decided to take a day off paddling and be "regular" tourists.

Milford Sound isn't a sound - it's a fiord. Therefore it should be named Milford Fiord.

We went for a climb up the hill to get to the creek that makes the Bowen Fall. The pipeline was slippery!

Finally there

So why are we trespassing?...

... to see Bowen Falls f0r free!

Jono and Mao are relaxing and drinking beer. The kiwi beer is really tasty!

As soon as it starts to rain, a lot of small waterfalls emerges.

The tunnel on our way back to Hollyford

We were a bit sleepy after today's activities

We met this fellow on our way home

We went back a second time to Milford to do a cruise. This time it had rained a lot which made the waterfalls bigger.

Drinking water straight from the waterfall. The water had this yellowish colour which reminded me of something I would not drink.

A flock of seals are relaxing

Dolphins were chasing us as we set the course back to land.

And as we were on our way to land, the weather improved.

Water coming down

A river on the Milford side, but no kayaking today

Hollyford and Gunn's Camp

In Fiordlands it rains a lot, about 9 meters a year. Which is about the same amount of rain that pours down in Bergen each year. But this year, New Zealand had the worst draught in 80 years. Even though the rivers were a bit low, I didn't complain about the nice weather.

The Kia watching us as we drove into Fiordlands.

Random river

Waterfalls

The dry gravel road down to the camp

James playing golf.

James relaxing. Simple life.

Rangitata River

After paddling the Hooker, we drove down from the Southern Alps plateau towards the east coast in order to paddle the Rangitata.

We encountered a few sheeps on our way to the get in. I learned that sheeps are unpredictable animals that love to hide in the ditch and jump right in front of your car.

The Rangitata started quite slow with a long flat section. But the adrenalin started pumping as soon as we arrived at the gorge. Retrospectively, it would have been better to just walk up to the top of the gorge than doing the long drive to the official get in.

Paddlers: James, James, Toni, Markus, Yan, Katrina, Jono and Espen.