44:40:63S
167:55:21E
Milford Sound.
A dramatic landscape of jagged peaks, glaciers and impressive waterfalls:
this is the attraction of Fordland that draws us down here. From Nelson it's
some 400 miles once past Farewell spit with no where to stop on the way
unless you are a fishing boat. Once there we knew that we could expect very
little in the way of facilities. And also we knew that here lived and
attacked the most ferocious sandflies in the southern hemisphere.
Our trip down the coast was uneventful in that the weather was kind and we
spent far longer motoring than sailing. When the wind came in there was
plenty of it.. Sunrise on the third morning at sea brought us a dramatic
view of the Southern Alps. There was Mount Cook inked against the copper and
gold sky where the spirit of Sir Edmund Hillary wanders.
There is little room for romanticism whilst sailing, the practical issues
always bring you down to earth. Our generator chose this moment to overheat
and stop. Investigation showed that the impeller was torn to bits. No
worries, we thought, we'll soon be able to replace that as this boat was
packed with boxes of spare parts. Impellers there were plenty off but all
for deck wash pumps or similar! Deep water basin at the head of Milford
sound now has a small marina with water and electricity, all leased out to
the fishermen. But if a berth is free you are allowed to use it until they
return. So far all the fishermen have been so helpful and friendly as well
as keeping us in supplies of crayfish and tuna. Whilst waiting for the
spares to be sent to Te Anau we decided that we had to walk the famous
Milford Track. Well two hours of it! After we had fitted the new impeller
the weather settled into to be thoroughly foul which gave us ample
opportunity to go through the rest of the 98 spaces on the boat. What did we
find? Non other than a box with all the impellers for everything!
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