the fiordland

Location: The Fiordland

Baskets Left: 3
_

leave it to me and my brain the size to screw up what should have been a nice cosy assignment. carry 3 artifact baskets around the country. that was it... just don't open them... what do i go and do?

OPEN one of them!!!

so now not only is my boss ms. rhonwyn angry as at me, but now i'm being hunted by something (well apparently its been hunting me along, but had no idea how to find me till now!) and worse than that i bombarded myself with magic... or sorry the scientific name for it "mystic gradient radiation" whatever that means?

ms. rhownyn has ordered me to pick up my pace, and not lolly gag anywhere to try and outrun my unknown pursuer.

the problem here (why is there always a problem?) is that i still have stop at milford sound as per ms. rhonwyn's list, and i'll have to back track to leave it...

in fact the fiordland as a whole only has the one way in and out of it via te anau.

rather than sit around and stu over this fact i decided to hit the road.

trying to get to milford as soon as possible, i headed out first thing in the morning. i probably should have taken the time to make sure i was ready for the road...

after only 15 minutes driving i had to make a quick stop... uh nature called me on my "cell" phone... so i hit the little dinosaur room by lake te anau...

than it was straight into the splender of the fiordland wilderness...

entering the southren alps i was greated by the spectacle of the mist and fog still clinging the valley floors before the sun hit them and vapourized them...

i had to take a quick stop and check out the foothill like valleys.

this area reminded me a bit of the crows nesting pass back in alberta.

as cool as it was, i needed to keep moving. back to the road.

after those flatlands i was a little surprised to enter the fiordland forests...

i passed a sign for something called mirror lake, and as i needed to still eat (again i left without doing anything morning like) i figured it'd make for a good breakfast spot.

they had the coolest bench for me to sit on and eat!

the forest around here totally reminded me of a movie... or three actually...

lord of the rings, narnia... and

they filmed part of walking with dinosaur here!!! cool!

realizing this i took a make belief wander through the make belief mesozoic.


i needed to get moving though. so i investigated the mirror lake... see how the sign doesn't work without the mirroring... of the water!?!?!

how weird and cool is that!!!

the water in this lake is like glass, and reflects stuff around it.

don't believe it... cause i didn't for a couple minutes... here's the proof!

back on the move again i had to go though.

as i grew closer to milford i encountered my favourite spot ever!!!

a valley... that if i didn't know was in new zealand could have been THE lost world!!!

it just went on forever...
with some of the thickest forest i've ever seen...

just like the valley in doubtful sound i desperately wanted to explore to see if it WAS the lost world...

yet now i really couldn't... so onward i pushed...


i finally approached the only entry to the milford region. the tunnel.


how cool is that? you have to drive through a mountain to get to milford sound...


it seems every 50 kilometres the scenery changes... i'm not complaining, but just makes even the approach to milford very memorable and rewarding.


though with the snow and ice here in summer (at least summer here in new zealand) this sure isn't a lost paradise for dinosaurs.


still i took a couple minutes to check it out from the car... not because i'm wasting time... rather i got eh another phone call from nature...


there sure are a lot of waterfalls around here...


it reminds me of doubtful sound... just no ocean between the mountains.

you sure can see the glacial carving of this area a lot more than doubtful sound (again the lack of water helps).

as i closed in on milford sound i had to cross a few mountain streams like this one.

i thought the snow and ice high atop the mountains discounted this being a dinosaur friendly area. i change my tune. the forests around here not only look the part...

they've played the part! again these were in walking with dinosaurs! i even recognize the episode they appear in. part 5 spirits of the ice forest was all filmed here.

i kept my eye open for leaellynasaura, even though i know they are actually from austrailia.

after such a packed morning it was hard to believe that there was still more to go. yet i suddenly arrived at my destination. the milford sound port.

hopefully i was going to be able to check this out quick, and get out JUST as quick...

to be continued...