Ever been to beautiful Milford Sound on New Zealand's South Island? Tom and I took Tim and Alistair some years back and made the 5 hour bus trip to the remote sound only to find dense fog. I asked a local working on the tourist boat who confessed that Milford Sound only offers those picture book views 50 days of the year, the rest of the time it is impenetrable fog. And such was our experience today at the End of the World, a cliff top view across the expansive Horton Plains to the coast some 80 kilometres away.
The trek to the End of the World starts with a 5:00am hotel pick up and early drive to the national park, and it being pre-dawn we were treated to sightings so wild water buffalo and deer. Then the 4 kilometre trek to the peak, in rain and sloshing through puddles and rivlets along the rocky path. But it would all be worth it, the view is said to be unequalled. But let the pictures do the talking ....
Was it worth the effort ?????
Well, if you want a view of fog. I actually thought we were at Milford Sound!
Now might be a good opportunity to introduce our travel companions. We have known Cathy & Terry since our early working days together. Terry is famous in family folklore for telling a young Alistair to get back on his bike after he fell off cycling in Jells Park: it was not until the next day that we decided Alistair was actually in significant pain and we took him to have it checked out and discovered he had fractured his wrist! Despite this we remain friends, and our two families enjoyed a lovely holiday in Malaysia 10 years ago now. Julia went to primary school with Cathy and they have remained firm friends, despite Julia moving to live in the US almost 30 years ago. We have also shared some past travels with Julia, catching up with her in New York in 2001, when we traveled around the world with the boys on the way back from India. The three of them arrived in Sri Lanka a few days after us and we joined up in Sigirya, and will be travelling together in Sri Lanka and after Julia returns to the States, Cathy and Terry accompany us on our stop-over in Singapore on the way home.
Holidaying with friends brings great joy, despite Terry beating us at Scrabble, a humiliation Tom found hard to bear until he got back with a win at snooker.
The trek to the End of the World starts with a 5:00am hotel pick up and early drive to the national park, and it being pre-dawn we were treated to sightings so wild water buffalo and deer. Then the 4 kilometre trek to the peak, in rain and sloshing through puddles and rivlets along the rocky path. But it would all be worth it, the view is said to be unequalled. But let the pictures do the talking ....
Hotel provided picnic at 5:00am in the van
The walk started at a comfortable pace
Then the walk became more of a challenge
And then it pissed with rain
Was it worth the effort ?????
Well, if you want a view of fog. I actually thought we were at Milford Sound!
Now might be a good opportunity to introduce our travel companions. We have known Cathy & Terry since our early working days together. Terry is famous in family folklore for telling a young Alistair to get back on his bike after he fell off cycling in Jells Park: it was not until the next day that we decided Alistair was actually in significant pain and we took him to have it checked out and discovered he had fractured his wrist! Despite this we remain friends, and our two families enjoyed a lovely holiday in Malaysia 10 years ago now. Julia went to primary school with Cathy and they have remained firm friends, despite Julia moving to live in the US almost 30 years ago. We have also shared some past travels with Julia, catching up with her in New York in 2001, when we traveled around the world with the boys on the way back from India. The three of them arrived in Sri Lanka a few days after us and we joined up in Sigirya, and will be travelling together in Sri Lanka and after Julia returns to the States, Cathy and Terry accompany us on our stop-over in Singapore on the way home.
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