Mountains, the Sea and Lobster Feasts!

Today, John and Fiona took me to Milford Sound - a really beautiful part of the south island about 2 hours away.

Along the way, we stopped along the side of the road for several photo opportunities...it makes me glad that Fiona is an aspiring photographer, otherwise I'm afraid we might not've stopped at all. Then again, John did offer that whenever I wanted to pull over, just to let him know.

We stopped at the Mirror Lakes, which is an insanely clear set of lakes that make for a perfect mirror during the non-breezy periods of the day. When we were there, it was not a non-breezy period of the day so I didn't get much chance to witness the mirrorlike qualities of the lakes. It was really beautiful though, and I got a GREAT picture that I'm thinking of entering into the photography portion of the Caledonia Fair...teehee I know I'm lame but I really love it.

We also stopped on the side of the road to take pictures of a beautiful waterfall and a river - each on one side of the road. It was absolutely breathtaking.

Then we stopped at "The Chasm", which was wonderful since I've always thought that "chasm" was a really great word. And by always I mean since today. It was about a 15 minute walk for Fiona and I to get there from the parking lot, when it should take 15 minutes there and back. We were both doing the photography thing along the way, and she got some really great pictures!!! My camera seems to be good for big picture scenery, but if I try to do the whole dewey-floral-close-up, my camera calls for a tripod otherwise it just doesn't work. But her camera was really great at the close up types of photography.

Anyways, back to the Chasm. It's a raging river in the middle of the forest that has taken down trees and eaten giant holes in the rock it rages over. It's really quite amazing to see how powerful the river can be when you see the size of the tree trunks that have barrelled along and gotten stuck in the holes in the rock!

So back to the journey - we eventually got to Milford sound and took a nice walk out to the lookout point. The water was rougher and not quite as blue as I'd seen in pictures. I was a little disappointed, to be honest, but one can't imagine real life as professional still life photography at all times. I was still happy to be there. It was really great, and I wish I'd've worn my jandals (sandals - another kiwi word for ya) so I could feel how cold the water was on my feet without worrying about shoes or socks.

Then instead of going straight home, John decided to show me the little marina where he used to work (he was a fisherman most of his life), and when we got there he decided to ask one of his old fishing buddies if he could scam a few crayfish (they call lobsters crayfish here...and crayfish lobsters. confusing people, so if you must know, he was asking for lobster by canadian terms). BUT INSTEAD the guy just said "come out with us and you can fish for a feed"...SO I went on a lobster catching boat! We went out into the sound (I got a brand new look at the sound and was very pleased being on the water) and I couldn't believe the size of the waves!!! I imagined being pulled behind the boat on the tube on these waves and didn't see myself ever surviving.

I also didn't see myself surviving if my parents or grandfather ever found out I was on a fishing boat in the ocean, walking around the edge with no lifejacket on.

So we pulled up to a little floating ball in the water and the boys pulled up the cray box. John yanked out 6 nice looking crayfish (still, we're talking about lobsters here...like the big kind) and we turned around and went back to the dock. And I learned that 20-30 feet of the water in the sound on TOP is fresh water (from rain and runoff) and then below that is saltwater (because fresh water is lighter than salt water, so it floats above it! weird eh?). And I also saw that crayfish here (lobsters in canada) don't have the massive front claws like they do up north! Just little tiny ones, but certainly nothing compared to the eats you get from the big claws on canadian lobsters!

So we tossed the crays in the back of the truck and headed home. And after not eating all day, it was a DELIGHTFUL thing to see a giant, red, steaming lobster sitting on my plate all for ME! And for FREE! Fiona and John wanted me to make sure to say that I'm "out in New Zealand, suffering for the Lord by feasting on lobster"...hehe. I loved it. My belly's full of lobster (but certainly not the gross brown goop that comes pouring out of them! You don't see THAT at Red Lobster!) and it's bedtime now.

It was a good, long day. It was a photographer's dream come true (at least for an amateur like me). It was a down-homer's dream come true (without the giant claws that SHOULD be on a lobster, mind you). And it was all just perfect for me.

I still get a little motion sick in the back of a car driving on the wrong side of the road. I've never gotten motion sickness in my life - weird.

I hope to post pictures as soon as I can, but for now I've reached my uploading limit with the server I use for showing my pictures. Oops. So check back at the beginning of next month and hopefully I'll be able to upload all my great Milford Sound pictures by then!

Goooooooodnight!