Face to face with calm turtles, gentle rays and curious sharks, the surface sending shimmering rays of vibrant sunlight through the water, casting a magical glow over you. A turtle sees you and soars closer, curious about the strange creature in their home. Dazzling colours and glorious, rippling surface patterns scatter, reflecting off the bottom of the shallows. It's breathtaking, and yet you've never been able to breathe easier.
Home to beech and podocarp forests and sweeping, crystal-clear waters of pristine azure and turquoise blues, this stunning walk weaves across swing bridges, boardwalks and raw stone. It gives you the innate sense of being immersed in the forest itself.
The climbing vines clinging to the trees, the countless waterfalls among the trees, the barrelling glacier-fed rapids that lined the road in sections. It was all so mesmerising. It is no wonder why the Maori people hold Milford Sound so close to their hearts and their culture.
Fish of all shapes, sizes and vibrant colours surrounded us and every time we dove down, they followed us, curious at the huge animals that were visiting their space...little starfish and other little ocean creatures peppered the wrecks and the surrounding sand banks and it was spectacular...It is quite a unique and special ecosystem that has been forged from the remnants of human activity.
By the time that we left, watching the sun sink towards the horizon as the boat eased away from the pier on Rottnest Island, I was already replaying my favourite parts of the day in my head...Rottnest Island should be on everyone's bucket list when in Australia. It is a shining jewel and it exceeds every expectation you could possibly have, tenfold.
And that was truly just the start...the colours just exploded around us...colourful fish surrounded us as we swam further into this underwater oasis, magic sparkling around us as the sunlight shimmered down from the water's surface. And I had no idea that being here with our friends could possibly get any better.
So there we were, talking and watching the soft blue sky intertwine with the whites and dove greys of clouds and the sound of coral gently tinkling into the shore as the ocean rushed in to meet the edges of Fitzroy Island.
We did not know what this year would hold for us. As of this very moment, I am sitting in my office looking out at a perfect view of the sunlight filtering down through the green leaves of the trees, a perfect blue sky, and bird song fills the air. And to top it all off, the butterfly migration is in full swing. There are butterflies gracefully arcing through the wind every which way. This is paradise, surely?
And then, imagine this...millions of years after your entire species is long gone, an individual of a species you will never see for yourself happens upon your footprints; immortalised remnants of your life, of your very existence. Pure happenstance and suddenly two species, millions of years apart, are connected.
It passed us and suddenly we were alone again, just the two of us in this incredible crisp white paradise with snow softly falling from the sky all around us, sparkling as it drifted to the ground and on top of our car...winding our way around the highest of roads amid the rocky mountains, ice ribbons lacing their way around the snow-covered road and the perfect light grey clouds that layered around us.
It was so much fun shredding around every emerging corner and shift in the fluffy snow. The higher we got up the mountain, the more the few clouds around us dissipated and suddenly there we were, snow mobiling through fresh white powder with deep emerald pine trees and a beautiful blue sky all around us.
By the time we edged out of the pine trees on the other side of the path, the Fairmont lay to one side and the first glimpses of Lake Louise lay to the other side. And in between, a little wooden cabin, straight out of a winter movie.
