Kayaking in Milford Sound – Day 148

It’s stopped raining. Yay. We can go kayaking. We didn’t think… [spitting] The sandflies are going up my nose.

Today we are kayaking in the mighty milford sound.

Oh my God can you believe that this morning it’s not raining in Milford Sound. So we actually get to experience the great outdoors with the team from Rosco’s Milford Kayaks and we’re gonna go right in the middle of Milford Sound.

We meet our guide, Callum, at the kayaking base in Deep Water Basin and the first thing that he does is giving us heaps of layers because it’s a really cold morning in Milford Sound today.

We are getting some of the funkiest gear we have ever got from a kayaking company. We are getting some super warm thermal layers with very lovely stripes on them super colourful. We’re also getting kitted up with a splash jacket and a life jacket as well topped off with some wacky hats.

Once we are in our super funky kayaking attire we’re heading outside with Callum to get some quick paddling lessons before heading onto the waters of Milford Sound.

Now you guys are on your own. You got a map? Enjoy.

The tour that we’re going on this morning is the Morning Glory tour which means we get into the sound just at sunrise and it’s one of the more adventurous tours that they do in Milford Sound. A lot of paddling involved and that’s why we are in double kayaks so we can get more power behind the paddle.

Although it is a pretty cold morning here in Milford Sound we are getting warm real quick because we have to put a lot of effort into kayaking here. Very interesting fact, in Milford Sound there is a freshwater current right above the sea current meaning that basically our paddles are only staying in fresh water, we’re not really touching the sea water but that means that the current is really strong and we have to paddle real hard to get where we want to go.

Right out of the gate we are learning heaps from our guide Callum he knows everything about all the local geological features like Sinbad Gully or Stirling Falls and he’s taking the time to tell us a lot of information. It really feels that we are taking a long time to go through all the places and get to embrace all of them it does not feel rushed whatsoever.

But the main feeling of the whole tour is the grandeur of Milford Sound. Being on such a tiny kayak so close to the water surrounded by those towering peaks is so humbling. The whole scale of the place is so amazing. Plus, it feels like a super intimate tour because it’s just us the water and the shore of Milford Sound. It’s really an awesome experience.

Another thing that Callum is telling us about Milford Sound is the dwarfing effect that Milford Sound has. Especially when you’re kayaking everything is so tall and so big around us that it’s really hard to understand the scale of the things and the distance between our kayak and the mountains ahead of us. Callum saying kayak towards this waterfall which really doesn’t seem that far away but we are kayaking for quite a long time to get there.

But once we get right underneath those mountains we feel so small the highest mountain here is Mitre Peak which is around 1,700m and waterfalls are cascading right over the top of us. It’s really amazing. i can’t stop taking photos.

Speaking of waterfalls, we are heading toward the most famous waterfall in Milford Sound which is Stirling Falls and this falls at 151m which is three times higher than Niagara Falls. Usually on trips in Milford Sound you see boats going underneath this waterfall and then when Callum says that we should go underneath that waterfall in our kayak we think he must be kidding.

But no the man is serious he really wants us to push super hard and get as close as we can to that waterfall. but obviously we get pushed right back to the ocean. there is no way you can get anywhere near close to that waterfall in a kayak just with the strength of our arms.

We are not braving the waves of the sound toward another really well-known point of Milford Sound. It’s Seal Rock. This is where one of the massive seal colonies of the area is residing and Callum tells us that usually in this kind of on and off rainy weather we have heaps of chance to see them right on the shore very very close to where we’re gonna be.

And the idea that we’re gonna be meeting New Zealand fur seals face to face is enough to get the whole group to push super hard. We end up paddling as hard as we can and get to Seal Rock in no time. Right there we see heaps of seals lazying on the rock. Some of them are still soaking wet so we know they’ve just been fishing and must full have a belly but because we don’t want to be disturbing them too much we are staying at a very reasonable distance checking them for afar as much as they are checking us out.

Although the kayaking part of our tour is soon to come to an end Callum says we do have time to get up-close and personal with one more waterfall. So we go full speed ahead right under the spray getting ourselves glacial facial and it’s just so much fun getting right underneath this waterfall.

This morning glory tour is meant to be a tour all the way to the end of Milford Sound where it meets the Tasman Sea but because there is some strong weather coming our way the swell is getting higher. Callum suggests that we take the water taxi now halfway through Milford Sound back to base.

So we are getting picked up by the water taxi where our kayaks are being loaded on top and we are getting into the dry shelter of the boat.

Jumping from a kayak right onto a water taxi is actually quite a challenge but the entire group is making it into the water taxi in no time we must all have some kind of circus background.

To be quite honest with our stripy leggings and funky hats we all look like a circus troop. From there it’s a really short boat ride back to the Milford Sound shore. We are going through the whole sound and it only takes us about 10 minutes in the boat while it took us over two hours in the kayak. It’s impressive. it’s impressive how we had no notion of the scale for the entire morning. It was an amazing experience.