milford sound

This morning we woke up and caught the bus to Milford Sound; the ride was just 120 kilometres but took three hours. We drove through valleys and even through the Homer Tunnel, which cuts through one of the mountains there. This tunnel alone took 20 years to construct (in the 1920’s during NZ’s depression). Our driver told us that here in Milford Sound and Fiordland, in one day there is the same amount of rainfall that Queenstown gets in a year! He told us that there are 4 million people in New Zealand, 10 million dairy cows, 17 million possums and 40 million sheep! He also told us a funny story about the forest composition in Fiordland National Park. He said that there are four different types of beech trees here. There are some which have silver leaves called the silver beeches, there are some which have red wood and are called red beeches, there are some which grow on the mountains and rock and are called mountain beeches, and there are some that fall across the road and take days to clean up that are called sonuva beeches!

The driver stopped at some lookout points for us to take some pictures and where we could hike down to Mirror Lakes and later the Chasm. It is a very powerful waterfall when it is raining as it is today. The sound is soothing and thunderous at the same time and it makes the ten minute walk through the rain well worth it. Once we got to Milford Sound it only started to rain harder. This is apparently the best time to be here, as we have begun to see. There is so much water cascading and falling over the sides of the mountains into the rivers and it looks awesome. Our cruise is booked for tomorrow at 4:00pm and I think it is going to be quite the spectacle to get up close to these waterfalls from the lake.

Day two in Milford Sound was the day of our cruise. As I had anticipated, it was a major highlight of our trip so far. The cruise was on a boat named MV Sinbad, which took us around Milford Sound and out to the Tasman Sea. There was seven metres of fresh water on top of the rest of the salt water because of yesterdays downpour. There were also some waterfalls remaining from the rain in the mountains. Today was clear, sunny, and a perfect day to sail through Milford Sound! On our cruise we saw the mountains and trees from the water and even seals laying on some rocks. There aren't enough words to explain the awe that I felt during the cruise through Milford Sound, so I will try to show some pictures that might help me.

Welcome!

Rainy Day on Mirror Lakes

Seals in Milford Sound Cruise

Cliff Face on Milford Sound Cruise

The Chasm