Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls
New Year's Eve morning brought a very different view of Milford Sound. Veiled and laced by floating mist that grew first into delicate and then weighty clouds, the Sound was eerie, and we felt like voyagers into the unknown. The entire Sound was changed: its beauty heavy and forbidding, its light muffled, the cliffs seeming to smoke from an unfelt heat. It was reminding us that our welcome here could be withdrawn. Simply stunning. On our coach tour, we had learned that Ridley Scott had recently finished filming the new Aliens movie in Milford Sound and that Peter Jackson had filmed part of his King Kong remake here as well. We listened for screeching or drums, for prehistoric creatures that could suddenly leap out of the fog, but in the end, we believed ourselves safe and in danger only of not yet drinking enough coffee. The rain brought out the waterfalls. All around they appeared, rushing from unsee...