One of the first things that come to mind when I think of
New Zealand is the opening scene in Travis Rice’s film, That’s It That’s All, a beautiful scene that shows a an SUV with
boards on the roof breaking through the stunning landscape that is New Zealand.
Ever since watching this iconic film it has always been a small dream of mine
to have the chance to be that car full of people breaking through this country
with M83’s Intro as my
soundtrack. Just last Friday I had this
chance, minus the snowboards and exchange the SUV for a Toyota Corolla. On a
spontaneous offer from a friendly Canadian we had met earlier, we woke early
and hit the road to one of the rainiest places on the globe, Milford Sound. The
road to Milford Sound was described to us as the most beautiful drive in New
Zealand and would take us right through Fiordland National Park, the critics
were truly raving. The start of journey took us out of Queenstown and along the
road that me and Brian had taken in our failed attempt to find the illusive Kawaura
Falls. To paint a better picture, geographically New Zealand looks a lot like
Canada and many people say that they are two very similar nations full of kind
people, cold weather, and a stunning scenery. The thing about NZ though is that
everything here is like a miniature version of Canada and the jagged peaks
occur at such a lower elevation that of the towering peaks of the Canadian
Rockies. This is due to the type of glaciation that occurred in NZ compared to
the glaciation of North America where our glaciers reached heights of 3000m and
carved away the jagged mountain peaks underneath them leaving the smooth carved
mountain summits of the coast mountain ranges. Whereas this part of New Zealand
some of the tallest peaks are only 2000m and yet are left with the jagged raw
peaks, therefore we can assume a lower elevation of glacier, that occurred with
creation of NZ. Another geographical difference with New Zealand is the base of
these mountains and the distance it takes to move between them. Well traveling though
the Glacier Parkway on your way to Alberta you are sat between these giant
mountains that sometimes take the better part of an hour to pass by; In NZ you
are constantly travelling between new scenes where it seemed like one minute
you’re in the glacier parkway in Canada and the next you were heading up
through the forested mountains of South East Asia.
I have been very fortunate in
my life to get to see some of the most beautiful sights the natural world has
to offer but I never have I been so constantly amazed by the view that awaited
me just around the corner. At one point in our trip we came out of forested
canopy section and were greeted to a massive open field parted only by the most
majestic of glacier rivers and on either side the snowy peaks stood guardians
of the valley. So what better to do then run through said field like a child and
drink from that river all while wondering how I got to be here and thanking the
people that made this possible.
One of the constants that Brian and I have
agreed on throughout our short time travelling together has been our dislike
for guided tours that are being offered. If we had taken the bus tour to
Milford Sound we not have had the chance to take the time and appreciate that
the last 50km of our journey took us about 2 hours. As you close in on the last
20km of the journey you are greeted by yet another absolutely breathtaking sight.
A huge gorge bordered on all sides by huge snowy peaks and the ground covered
in glacial till with the only evidence of humans being the windy road you are
driving on. Knowing basically nothing about this road and only a few trivial
facts about the destination I was really not prepared for when our windy road led
us heading straight into the mountain.
Yep a freaking tunnel and formally the
world’s longest gravel covered tunnel at 1.2km long. I was like a little boy
seeing a big red firetruck roll down the road, completely ecstatic. Coming
through the tunnel was really surreal, trying to rap your head around the fact that
all around you is thousands and thousands of tonnes of mountain and it had all
been done in 1954…… Once you begin to see the light you don’t know what to
expect, NZ is ever surprising and leaving you in constant awe and it played the
part just the way it had since the moment I could see through the clouds flying
into Queenstown; greeting our eyes with colossal walls of stone with cascading waterfalls
everywhere it felt like a scene out Avatar, you know but the mountains were
attached to the ground. After another 20min of driving through more amazing
scenery that you are probably getting tired of me describing we had made it to
Milford Sound.
Now I don’t want to undersell Milford but if you are going to
head there then make sure to book a cruise as there is not too much to do in
Milford other than go on a cruise or hire some kayaks. So as we had not done
either of these things and seeing as it had taken us over four hours to get
here we decided to hop back in the whip and head back through the majesty and
onwards to beautiful Queenstown. On our way back we realised with the beautiful
weather we were having and the complete lack of light pollution we should take
a little stop and stare at the night skies. As usual NZ didn’t disappoint and
my lucky travel mates were both greeted to their first sight of our home in
this universe, the Milky Way galaxy. What a perfect way to end an almost
perfect day.
A main theme of my travels over the last almost 8 months has been discovery.
Whether it has been the discovery of new places, new tastes, or bits of life I
refused to accept. Our trip to Milford played a big part in my odyssey of
discovery. Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Life is a journey, not a destination,”
I know this is super cliché but travelling to Milford I really learned that
this is true for almost all parts of life. My education was not about getting
the piece of paper at the end it was about the learning along the way and
lessons I got out of it. When I first got my black belt way back in high school
I was told I had to write about my journey getting to that point but in my
world I was a black belt now so all that was before that was not important. I
look back on that now and realise it is important to look back on that journey
all the good and all the bad because those are the things that got me to that
destination. The best part of our trip to Milford was not seeing the Pacific
Ocean and all the majesty surrounding it, it was the travelling in the car,
getting out, running through the field and reaching the moment of appreciation for
all that I have and have been given. So to the people I don’t get a chance to
thank and there support in keeping this trip and blog going I appreciate everything
and I am trying to squeeze the most out of everything that I have been given
out here.
Love
Tanner, I used a thesaurus
P.S. I will be posting a video of some of my antics so far.
