My partner and I, and three other family members, were together on a Down Under vacation in early November. The story so far:
Part 1 included a tour of Sydney, Australia and nearby areas, ending with our cruise ship sailing away from Sydney Harbour.
Part 2 focussed on a ship-board attraction, blowing hot glass at sea.
Part 3 included a visit to a wildlife sanctuary, to see Tasmanian Devils and other fascinating animals from Down Under.
Tonight, we sail through the Sounds of New Zealand.
But first, a word from our sponsor.
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TONIGHT’S FEATURE PRESENTATION: MILFORD, DOUBTFUL, and DUSKY SOUND
The previous instalment in this series had us departing from Hobart, the capital of Tasmania, the island state to the south of mainland Australia. Our next port of call would be Dunedin, New Zealand. But it would take a while to get there: two full days at sea, followed by a day sailing slowly through three of New Zealand’s sounds, then an overnight sailing to Dunedin. The day at the sounds would entail sightseeing from onboard; no docking at a port.
When I say sounds, I’m not talking about audibles. This meaning of sound is a body of water that is an inlet carved by glacier movement, with steep sides or cliffs. The distinction between a sound and a fjord is somewhat loose, though a sound is generally wider than a fjord.
And pining for the sounds just doesn’t have the same comedy effect, does it?
And so it was that we were scheduled to sail through three sounds along the south-west coast of New Zealand, in a single day. Actually, we would only go all the way through Dusky Sound in one direction; the others end in a bay in which the ship turns around and heads back out the way it came in.
The ship entered Milford Sound around 7AM on this day, and exited about 90 minutes later. It was a cool, cloudy, and misty morning. Although the sun struggled with a few rays peeking through here and there, overall the view was drab and dull. Colours were muted, almost shades of gray much of the way.
And yet the scenery was, even in these conditions, spectacular.
Milford Sound runs inland about 15 km from the mouth. That’s a lot of cliff space to slowly move through with your jaw hitting the floor multiple times. When you haven’t seen something like this in person before, the first sighting is simply awesome.
There were several good spots on board from which to observe the sounds. The balcony of our room was cozy, but with limited view directly out one side of the ship. My relatives, including Partner, spent much of the time up on the open-air Deck 14, with views all around. I worked my way from there to the forward helipad, which most passengers either don’t know about, or know how to get to. Finally, Deck 5, where the lifeboats are stowed, offers some great views on both port and starboard sides, and closer to the water level.
The cloud cover reached down to the cliff tops, blocking the sun and giving an ominous look and feel. More Stephen King than Lord of the Rings.
Moving slowly forward into the narrowing channel.
The cliffs seem to go almost straight up in places.
Here and there, splashes of color as the sun tried its best to peek out.
There are a few waterfalls scattered about.
And in the larger view...spectacular.
Proceeding slowly, the ship created only a small wake.
The view from Deck 5, looking up at the bridge extension on the starboard side.
On the starboard side of Deck 5, one of the public outdoor walkways going past the lifeboats.
The view from our balcony on Deck 8, starboard, looking forward.
Looking slightly higher from the same point.
Snow on the cliff tops.
Approaching the endpoint. There is a small tourist establishment on shore at the end of the bay, but we stayed offshore some distance, and turned around at this point.
A small tour boat passed by.
If you go all the way forward on Deck 6, you can make your way onto the Helipad (an actual landing place for an emergency helicopter). It is only open to passengers on selected occasions, and not widely publicized.
And, they have warm blankets!
There were fewer people here than other observation places, which could get packed elbow to elbow and 2 or 3 deep.
Looking straight up and back from the helipad, people were on every available outdoor deck, though most people seemed to stay on the sides rather than all the way forward or aft. That row of glass on the bottom with the window wipers, is the ship’s bridge which goes all the way across the front and extends on both sides.
The bridge extension, port side. They get the best views of everything. That’s a good thing for navigation and docking. During docking, they can control the ship’s fine movements from either there or the other side.
More cloud and snow.
A longer view.
As we were leaving the area, the sun did try to come out, but didn’t quite make it.
One of my last shots leaving Milford Sound.
A couple of hours later, the ship entered Doubtful Sound. It was originally named Doubtful Harbour by Captain Cook, in 1770. History tells us that Cook was doubtful that he could safely sail in, and thus did not know how far inward it led.
By the time we arrived at the mouth of the sound, the weather had taken a turn for the worse. It was raining, and somewhat colder. I tried to get to the helipad, but a ship’s staffer was guarding the exit door to that area, saying the area was closed due to the weather conditions. I had kind of expected that on my way there, and so wasn’t surprised. There were fewer people out on the open decks compared to Milford Sound.
(When I make photos that include people, unless I’m specifically doing a portrait, I like to just capture random people out and about doing their thing. I dislike the “We’re going to line up here and you take our picture in front of whatever you can’t see because we’re standing in front of it. Now just the two of us. Now those three. Now do the same with my cell phone. Now just her with her cell phone. Now everybody together, and ask that guy to take a picture for us all. Now wait while we upload all these on wi-fi to Whatsapp and Dropbox so people on the other side of the planet can comment on them before we move on and stand in front of the next thing that you can’t see because we’re standing in front of it”. Sorry for that outburst. No more preaching today.)
The water was a little more rough, and some waves made their mark on the shoreline.
This shot is typical of what we were able to see on this rather crappy weather day in Doubtful Sound. And yet it was still hauntingly beautiful, as layers of shades of gray.
A tiny island supports the life of a single small tree.
Layers of darkness
Layers and islands.
I’ll end this session with my favorite shot of the day. Even though it has very little color (at least to my eyes), the monochrome layers from foreground to background are intensely beautiful. I couldn’t get enough of staring at this scene in real time, even for as brief a time as it lasted as we slowly moved away.
And then there was Dusky Sound. It was on the schedule, but unfortunately we didn’t go there. The weather continued to deteriorate throughout the day, and by the time we approached Dusky, the seas were too rough.
An announcement was made that we had to skip Dusky Sound due to the weather conditions. With the high winds, and churning waters, it was simply too dangerous to take the ship into the narrow passage. In fact, if my recollection is accurate, they said that the New Zealand authorities actually forbid entrance due to these particular conditions.
Oh well, you take your chances wherever you go, when the weather is concerned.
Our next port of call was Dunedin, New Zealand. Dry land, at last!
(to be continued...)
TOP COMMENTS FOR FRIDAY DECEMBER 11, 2015
From SottoVoce:
I would like to recommend I Love OCD's comment from today's “Abbreviated pundit roundup: What will the GOP do about Donald Trump?” by Georgia Logothetis.
My B-I-L said it the night Obama was elected: “America will now have to confront it’s shadow side.” He was referring to slavery, the ongoing genocide of the First Nations, our love affair with wealth and power at any cost.
This isn't just a RW problem or a Trump problem. Our founding documents encoded slavery. We’re built on genocide. We fought an internal war because wealth and power were built on unpaid labor, with a strong streak of sadistic racism.
Walt was right. A brilliant, attractive, exceptionally competent black man, a man who destroyed all the racist stereotypes WE ALL imbibed in freely over many decades, was elected to our top office, twice. That speaks well of us in general terms. It also threatened every pillar of white privilege, and the wreckage is in front of us. Democrats don't get off the hook on this. Huge numbers of us continue to move the goalposts regarding Obama’s successes. Had a white man gotten a fix to our worst healthcare issues passed, ANY fix, he’d have been a Democratic hero. Obama is, instead, vilified for not getting the perfect fix in place. For not fixing a broken Iraq. For not being sufficiently Cheneyesque in dealing with the opposition. The racism from the left is less vitriolic, couched as policy criticisms. The giveaway is that political realities don't count at all. He’s weak. Too professorial. Leads from behind. Whatever.
We’re in no position to fight a fascist-leaning party until we start looking at ourselves.
From bbwatch:
I'm nominating Uncle Moji's response to truthhertz in MRDFS's diary about the Oklahoma conviction of Holtzclaw, “All white jury convicts Oklahoma cop of raping black women”.
Addressing a tangent thread that Holtzclaw's perceived race may still have been a factor to the all-white jury, Uncle Moji provided a valuable personal perspective relating how pervasive racism is to anyone judged not-white.
Plus, I think the comment is an example of positive community moderation.
Your snarky reply is typical. You miss the nuance of kishik’s comment. Preponderance of the evidence is common in white police on black crimes and yet “racism” (which is the point of this diary) is what usually precludes the conviction (or even charging) of legitimate crimes against white cops. What kishik is suggesting is that “racism” is again at play here, in an all white jury not seeing the criminal Holtzclaw as white, but as “not really white”, which allowed them to convict the “not-white cop” for his crimes against non-white people. …
Contrary to how most of white America sees race, it is never simply “black” and “white”. And while finally acknowledging the vile pernicious and deadly affect of white racism toward black America, that alone is only part of what non-white America lives. I’ve been threatened and assaulted by the KKK, and it’s not because I’m black, but because I am Asian.
But I disagree with kishik only in this way, I don’t believe it was anti-Asian racism that caused them to convict Holtzclaw, it was anti-Native American racism at play here. Oklahoma has a long history of violence by whites against Indians. And, frankly, it is my personal experience that a fair number of racist white folks can’t always tell the difference between First Peoples and Asians. Years ago, I was bluntly refused service in a rural store near a Res because the clerks thought I was an Indian and told me to “get the “F” out and go back to the Res where ( I ) belonged.” I’ve also been mistaken for Mexican with similar racist epithets. Happy to stand with my Mexican and First Peoples family.
TOP MOJO FOR THURSDAY DECEMBER 10, 2015
TOP PHOTOS FOR THURSDAY DECEMBER 10, 2015