At the end of a spectacular drive was the Milford Sound (tourist) processing plant. Quite a remarkable feat, given the number of people who go on a trip every year (500,000 according to the twerp in the Te Anau toilet).
The whole operation is run just like an airport – restricted parking, a large concourse, hundreds of people milling around. We bought a ticket on the next available boat and were told to ‘board at 1.15 at gate3’. Which we did, with a sense of dislocation – is this really happening? I’m afraid so.
bloody hell! different++ from 1979 when we got there on milford track from te anau – would not want to go there now! …BUT the scale of scenery so HUGE it does dwarf all them tourists (of which you were not a member of course! – we liked to think of ourselves as travellers – moral superiority boosted by working there