New Zealand

Guest Blogger: Travel Gal Alicia

Milford Sound, New Zealand
Remember that scene in Lord of the Rings, when the newly formed Fellowship is gliding purposefully down the river and the camera pans and the scene expands and the river opens to a sound filled with majestic, haystack-like peaks? Did you not immediately want to board the next plane to Middle Earth? Well guess what? Grab your poly-fleece leggings and sandfly repellant – a quick 12 hour flight across the Pacific, three hour drive up the sound and an overnight stay at the Lodge and you too can kayak the Middle Earth waterways. Except it’s actually called the Milford Sound, and it’s happily situated in New Zealand – present age.

There’s only one place to stay on the Milford Sound, and that’s the Milford Sound Lodge. With hostel-type lodging and a fully equipped kitchen, this one stop shop will book all your tours, map out tramping expeditions (“hiking” for you gutter-minded folks), and make a mean latte. In fact, no matter where you go in New Zealand you will find nothing but incredibly friendly people and insanely good cups of coffee. It’s like they learn the craft in grammar school.

Anyway, after the flight, the drive, the booking, the sleeping and the fresh 6am cups of coffee, my girlfriends and I made our way down to the pier to suit up for the outing. Because tourists are typically whiny yuppies who don’t care to be cold – or wet for that matter, even while kayaking in glacier water – we were immediately presented with hideous striped long underwear and fleece pullovers, followed by bright yellow ponchos and reflective life jackets. I fully expected to see “Safety First!” and “Arrive Alive!” bumper stickers slapped on all the kayaks.

We braved the stripes and partnered up, then picked our kayaks and paddled our way out of the marina. After a 15 minute tutorial (during which we were informed the most important thing to remember on the water was to “look good” to the tourists even more yuppie than us who were sipping mimosas on high-end ferry tours), we were off. One girlfriend and I were the only all-girl boat, and thanks to our shortage of upper body strength we were usually a good 30 yards behind everyone else in our group. We played it off as our master plan to take endless amounts of pictures of the peaks, waterfalls, seals, rainbows and each other – looking extremely cool and adventurous.

They’re now some of my favorite photos. The view in every direction was incredible. At times the blue water was so crystal clear we could see right down to the bottom. Huge waterfalls cascaded down the rocks all around us, the farthest being on the other side of the sound three miles away. Honestly, if it wasn’t for all the paddling (and sandfly bites), I could have stayed out there all day just taking it in. It made perfect sense why most of the tour guides chose to live all the way out near the sound, even if it is two hours away from the closest gas station.

Now, if only one of them had a closer resemblance to Legolas.

Date of Completion: February 2010