Oh the knees and the ankles hate me today.
And the bowels. 😶
And i got a message from a friend who’s having a super duper rough time. So we hung out at the camping place for a little while, so I could chat with my friend.
So many people going through tough times right now.
Let’s see… after chatting with him, we pointed the car west toward Fiordland.
Fiordland has been on the to-visit list since… well, pretty much the beginning of the trip, I think, since the first time we learned about it.
It can be quite expensive, though. 😶 Boat rides, kayak rentals, helicopter/plane rides.
Yeah… it can add up. 💰💲🤑💸💳
Interestingly, though, our nudie travel book author guy mentions that the drive out to Milford Sound is really the main thing, just so beautiful. He suggested that’s all you really need.
But so many people talk about just how amazing Milford Sound is. 🤔
Honestly, the pictures of Milford Sound are nice and all, but I had suspicions the gentleman was right.
It really is interesting how often the massive tourist draws really are… just… ok? And the most amazing stuff often goes all but unnoticed (I’m looking at you Earnslaw Track), as an example.
So we headed out on the road into Fiordland, with me trying to catch up a little on my blog posts, before stopping at a nice little river area where a billion people were because Chase wanted to do a hike.
My body… is probably out of hiking commission for the rest of the trip, so I stayed behind while he enjoyed a lovely hike.
While Chase hiked, I sat in the cold river, trying to give some relief to my ailing joints. I spent a lot of time in the river–so long that it was hard to walk because if the frozen appendages. 🙃
I also pondered a decent amount about life. Emotionally, I was doing a lot better today than I have been for the last while. It wasn’t really because I’d changed, though: It was because my insecurities weren’t triggered.
Still, it’s a nice respite.
I started thinking a little bit about things i need to just to accept. I’m not very good at accepting things, I think I’ve realized. I’ve always been so good at finding solutions to the challenges I face. I may have to nearly kill myself trying, bit I usually find a way eventually. But… if I don’t learn to accept some realities, I’m likely going to deal with a lot more misery in my life.
When a family member was looking to buy a house, I suggested that they go to a place that made their heart sing.
And as I was thinking about my life, I was like, “ok, Stephen, what would make your heart sing?” In everything. Place to live. Work to do. Life to lead. Companion to choose… etc.
I pondered on that for a while.
I rinsed off some of my sweaty clothes in the river.
I found a deeper spot in the river that might work to jump off into, but I didn’t jump.
I had a riff, complete with lyrics come into my head, and I played around with those in my head.
Haven’t written a song on a long time.
That’s one thing I’d love to do–write uplifting songs again. It’s just that I have this uncanny ability to make it so even things I love to do turn into work that stresses me out. 🙃 (e.g. “I’ve gotta get this song finished! It’s taking so long!”)
Anyway, Chase came down after four or five hours or so, and we jumped in the river off that rock a few times before heading out to Milford Sound.
It was actually really awesome that we stopped for Chase to do the hike. Better than planned. Why? Well because my that point (5:30 ish?) most everyone has already left. They were going in to experience Milford Sound. So they went in, did it, and just… left.
So as we were going along, the masses are pretty much gone, and it as so… Nice!
Wow, that drive is gorgeous. The mountains so tall and so steep! Waterfalls coming off, from as high up on the mountains as you can see, cascading down… thousands of feet? And. All. Over.
😍😍😍
Chase and I were wowed again. Nearly two months into this trip, and we’re still getting wowed. It’s just amazing. 😊
Through a kilometer-long tunnel down down down into the real depths of Fiordland. And… just wow. Neither words nor pictures…
And then… we got to the actual Milford Sound, and you know what? Little Mr nudie author was… right. 🙃 The sound itself, such we could see probably 60% of just standing where we were was certainly beautiful, but it was honestly… underwhelming. 🙃
The drive in was “wow” gorgeous. 😍 The Sound? It was… pretty. 😊 About what the pictures showed. A couple of beautiful waterfalls. Pretty ocean water. Nice steep landscape into the water.
Anyway, we enjoyed a nice little walk to the edge of the water, took some pictures, and were honestly quite satisfied with the experience. No boats or copters or planes or kayaks needed. 🙂
On the drive back, we took our time. There was pretty much no one. Milford sound, and no one. It really is true that the tourists just flock into the Super popular places, fly out, and they’re gone.
Great for us. 😊
We were the only people at Milford Sound walking around. We saw only a handful of people on the drive back at each place we pulled over to take in the views.
After going back through the tunnel, we pulled over to take in just an amazing view, and as i got out of the car, I looked up just in time to see the New Zealand Alpine parrot flying just a few feet in front of my face and landing on the top of our car!
Clearly, this wasn’t the parrots first rodeo. 🙃 Being the super intelligent critters that they are, it figured I would like to have some food for it, and it was right. We had a little lemon cookie with icing in between the two layers, that I handed it, and it very carefully scraped off all of the icing first. 😆
Smart cookie. 😁
Then it proceeded to eat the rest of the cookie.
Yup, smart bird.
That was super cool as well. 😊 What a great day. 😊
We explored around a little bit. My messed-up body is limiting me massively now, but even really being able to walk much without repercussions. It actually seems to be getting worse, not better, but… we’ll deal. Always something positive to pull from the experience, right?
We’ll give that attitude a go, at least.
Thanks for taking, and MWLEPAEPBTWFT. 🥰
Love and hugs to all y’all. 😊
Lift the World
~ stephen
Lift the World 