April 10, 2011
We had an early start for a long bus trip to Milford Sound on the west coast of this island. As the crow flies this trip would have been much shorter but unfortunately there are no passes, hence no roads across the mountains. The 6 hour bus trip, with just a few short breaks took us through spectacular scenery up the mountains and down the valleys. Prior to hitting the mountains we drove through numerous areas with herds of both sheep and deer. Interesting that these domesticated deer (a hybrid of the red deer and elk) don’t jump their fences, but wild deer will and will come into the herd.
Leaving the flatlands for higher ground we passed through a temperate rainforest filled with ferns, moss covered beech trees and mixed vegetation. This forest is the home to many of the remaining kiwis. But as they are nocturnal and still very elusive we didn’t have a prayer of seeing them in the wild. Everywhere you looked there were beautiful sites...Mirror Lake, waterfalls, chasms and glaciers. Everything one would expect in the mountains of the south island.
Weather was perfect as we started out the day with warming temps and lots of sun making the lakes sparkle with reflections of the shear walls and peaks. Unfortunately the clouds that we saw covering the mountain peaks never did burn off and our boat trip through the fiords was just ordinary, The steep rock walls and waterfalls would have been much prettier if we had sun…but at least it didn’t rain (something it does 200 days a year here)
Heading back to Queenstown, the sun is returning. Perhaps it will give us a beautiful sunset on our 4 hour ride back.
More fun facts from Deedee: 1.) There is only one native mammal in NZ and it is a small bat. All other mammals were brought here. 2.) We are at 45 degrees south latitude. 3.) Water does flow counter clockwise in the drains (this was actually Linda’s observation).
Linda’s BIG aha moment…please follow along. Two days ago Linda observed that we were having a waning moon and predicted that we would have a new moon in the next day or so. Tonight while traveling home by coach Linda saw the setting moon and it was definitely a last quarter moon. What from last crescent to last quarter in TWO DAYS? Not possible. Oh wait…we are in the southern hemisphere. Does that mean that the moon phases are reversed as well as the other natural phenomenon ( aka…water in drains) we have noticed. Must be! Instead of the first quarter being a lit side on the right….it is on the left. WOW!
Mr Wizard and Bill Nye…watch out! And DeeDee the non-science guy is just going huh? Shooting the moon?
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