4/27/11 Bluff -> Milford Sound -> Te Anau
Our poor planning once again affected our day. We awoke around 8 or so, donned our togs (bathing suits) and headed for the coast. It was time for our version of a polar plunge. We were hoping to find some sort of dock or pier for total, immediate immersion, but we couldn’t. Instead we found a spot to climb down to the beach and run in. We were split evenly as a group, 3 diving and 3 spectating. Travis, Kaleb, and I were the brave ones jumping in. So we shed our clothes, handed away our cameras and went for it. We waded in and dove under a wave. We were off the coast of one of the southernmost locations of the South Island, in April, at 8:30 in the morning. Basically, it was really cold.
After that first submersion it actually wasn’t too bad. However, knowing how cold it actually was, I walked back out almost immediately. What a way to start the day!
Our delusions that we were doing well on time lasted about another hour before shattering. After showering off the salt water and packing up the van once more we were quickly informed by Bertha (the GPS) that we had a 4.5 hour drive to reach Milford Sound, which we needed to be at in 4.5 hours to catch our boat. This led to the decision to skip the viewing of Stirling Point, a location I really wanted to go to. Why, you ask? Because Stirling Point has one of those posts with signs and distances pointing to locations all over the world, including the South Pole. Sadly it was a no go.
