The scenery was the most spectacular as we drove farther and farther south to Milford Sound. We were headed for an overnight cruise on a fishing boat. On the way we saw the chasm and filled our water bottles with glacier water from a stream, and watched keas destroy cars while we waited for our turn in Homer Pass.

Keas are (the world’s only) alpine parrots that are extremely intelligent (about the same as an average human toddler apparently). They know how to pull the weather stripping from the windshield of cars, they will fly at you and steal your food. We were told they herd sheep off cliffs to kill them. The keas would sit on top the buses and rip off whatever they could from the top. We watched several vans speed up and then come to a screeching halt trying to dislodge the hitchhikers.

We watched small waterfalls travel down the cliffs and finally it was our turn to go through Homer Pass (the tunnel drilled through the base of a mountain).

We reached the boat, put our small bags in the tiny accommodations and were greeted by the crew with fresh mushroom soup. It was pretty cold and rainy so it was veray nice. We were able to go kayaking and on speed boat tours of the area to learn about the environment. A seal joined our speedboat tour, jumping around us in the water and checking us out!

It rained overnight (which it does 355 days a year there) which made the waterfalls even more impressive. We even got to see the rare yellow crested fiordland penguins! I tried to get some photos but they’re quick little things!