It was barely six in the morning, I leisurely opened my eyes, and saw a densely forested hill pass by.

What the heck?

For the past three days, I had seen nothing but water around me. What is this? A mirage in the sea?

But no. The ship’s Communication Director, Steve From Canada (as he called himself) announced on the internal communication system that the ship was passing through the Milford Sound, and if we wanted to have a better view, we should head for deck 15.

I quickly changed and headed there. The deck was already full of people. People were taking photos and making videos as island after island of hills passed by. There was hardly any space to stand by the glass panels surrounding the ship. I found my brother and sister-in-law in the crowd and stood next to them. Together we took in the beauty of the eighth wonder of the world, as called by Rudyard Kipling when he first visited the place in the nineteenth century.

Milford Sound

Milford Sound is one of New Zealand’s top attractions.

The early European settlers named this place ‘Sound’ but they were wrong. Sounds are formed when a river valley is flooded by the sea, whereas Milford Sound was formed by the erosion of ancient glaciers.

Milford Sound is actually a fiord. Full of mountains, waterfalls, passes and valleys, Milford Sound is part of the Fiordland National Park and has a history going back thousands of years. When New Zealand was an unspoiled land of just forest and mountains, rivers, and sea, Māori tribes used to travel there to fish, hunt, and collect precious pounamu (a variety of jade).

In 1823, a sealer called John Grono was the first European settler to visit Milford Sound. Later that century, a Scotsman called Donald Sutherland became Milford Sound’s first permanent resident. Together with his wife, he built the first hotel in Milford Sound, to accommodate the growing number of walkers arriving there on what is now the Milford Track (Source).

We stood there transfixed, watching the lush green hills and markings on the rocks where the waterfall would spring in rainy seasons.

After taking the ship as far as he could, the captain found a cove big enough to turn the ship around. On the way back, we were even more up close to the hills.

Once again, Steve From Canada (the communication director of the ship) announced we will reach the next fjord at 1:00 pm. That was enough time to have a stupendous breakfast at a buffet restaurant and then head for the spa. I was wearing my swimsuit underneath my dress so without missing a beat; I was in the bubbly spa.

Oh! my.

The water was really hot. My aunt and sister-in-law joined me too, and we sat there for longer than an hour. There was no urgency to vacate the place for someone else, as there were six spas and four swimming pools on the same deck.

We had a hefty breakfast earlier, but as we got out of the spa, we spotted an ice cream parlor. All that ice cream was free. You could have ten cones if you wanted, but we limited ourselves to one soft-serve each.

We had barely ingested that when we spotted the Fish and Chips outlet. It served shrimp (prawns) as well. There went my five months of weight loss efforts. “Don’t ask for fish and chips,” said my husband, “Ask for fish and shrimps.” He was right. The chips were not nice, but the shrimps were delicious.

Doubtful Sound

At around 1:00 pm, we reached Doubtful Sound.

Doubtful Sound is the deepest and second-largest fjord in New Zealand. It was named so by Captain Cook because he was doubtful that he would be able to sail his ship back out of the Sound. I stood by the glass panel the whole time, chatting with my niece. We spotted dolphins following the small tourist boats.

We were told to look out for sunbathing seals on Seal Rock, but it was a pretty hot day for sunbathing.

After lunch, the whole party (the eleven of us) found a spot on Deck 6 and played cards. We play a game called Teen Patti (a very famous Indian also called Flash). It is a gambling game, but we played it with counters rather than real money. It is like the British 3-Card Brag game and poker put together. The eleven of us made so much noise that it drowned the annoying voice of the inexperienced Bingo host.

Dusky Sound

While we were playing cards, the ship sailed by Dusky Sound. But no one bothered to go to the deck this time. We took some photos and got on with our card game.

Dusky Sound was named by Captain Cook as well when he sailed by the area at dusk on his first voyage in 1770. It is almost 25 miles long and is the largest fjord in New Zealand. During the rainy seasons, hundreds of waterfalls splash down from the verdant green hill into the dark deep waters.

Tonight was the first formal dinner night. Thankfully, my husband who was threatening to appear in shorts wore his jacket and had a photo with me.

After dinner, we headed for the dance hall called Two70 (for it gives a 270-degree view of the sea) to try our luck to sneak into a cabaret show. The previous day’s show was canceled because the ship was too bumpy. All those who book were transferred to today. But the doors were to open as soon as the show started and anyone could attend if you could find an empty seat or didn’t mind standing at the back, you could.

We were first in the line to sneak in as soon as the doors opened. With our luck, we got the seats as well, that too near the entry and exit of dancers.

The show was not what I expected (nothing can beat Bollywood actress Helen’s cabaret), but I enjoyed watching the dancer from close by as they entered and exited from where we were sitting.

Immediately after the cabaret, we head for the Royal Theatre to watch an R-Rated comedy show. The Royal Theatre had a capacity of 1000.

Having done all the hot stuff in the day, we went to bed to get up early the next day for our first port — Dunedin.

I will write about that in my next post.