Milford Sound

As we mentioned in the previous post, we were headed for Milford Sound. This is one of the must do's of the South Island with over 1 million people visiting the area each year and Rudyard Kipling desribing it as the 8th wonder of the world. Milford Sound is part of Fiordland National Park and was actually incorrectly named as a sound by the Welsh captain that seen it, as opposed to its true status as a fiord. The difference between the two is that a sound is a V shaped valley created by a river and a fiord is a U shaped valley created by glaciers.

Milford is by far the best known of all of the fiords and the only one that can be accessed by road making it the most popular. It is approximately 16km from the head of the fiord to the open sea, which means you can easily travel the length of the fiord to open ocean and return on one of the many cruise options available. We decided to take one of the two hour cruises.

Before you even board the boat we could see the outstanding scenery all around us despite the low grey clouds that were around on this particular day. This did not take anything away from the series of waterfalls that we seen. The falls looked quite good and we were surprised to learn that Milford was actually going through a drought as it hadn't seen any rain for around 1 month and a lot of the falls had dried up. We were also told that because of the altitude we were at it is not unheard of for their to be snow in the area even though it was summer.

The sound runs out to the Tasman Sea and this is where the cruise boats will take you out to before bringing you back. Along the way huge mountains enclose you as it is surrounded by sheer rock faces that rise as high as Mitre Peak which stands at 1871 meters (6139 feet). This is the mountain in the pics below that is covered with snow and ice. Milford Sound comes a close second to the mountains of Tahiti in recording the highest rainfall in the world with 7m annualy which you would think would put tourists off, however it only adds to the magnificent waterfalls.

What also adds to this place is the array of marine life that can be spotted with dolphins, fur seals and crested penguins among the wildlife. We were lucky enough to see lots of fur seals playing in the water and relaing on the rocks.

















































We took over 200 pictures on this 2 hour cruise so if you fancy seeing anymore check out our photbucket page!

What also makes this area so special is the Milford Road, which is a stunning 119km (74 miles) alpine drive. It is also the only way to get there by road and is one of the highest highways reaching 940 metres above sea level. Plenty of time is needed to stop at the numerous viewing points or short walking opportunities along the road from Te Anau to Milford. Some of the key highlights that we liked are:

The Chasm:

This was our first stop on the way back from Milford Sound and involves a short 20 minute walk which allows you to walk over two footbridges over the Cleddau River that offers spectacular views of a series of waterfalls. Thousands of years of swirling water have sculptured round shapes and basins in the rock.









Homer Tunnel:

One of the key highlights of the day was the Homer Tunnel. We had heard that there was a tunnel on the road that only allowed one set of traffic through at a time and if we miss the lights then we would have to wait 20 minutes for them to change again but we didn't really know what to expect. As you get close to the tunnel you drive past the remains of glaciers on either side of the road and can see the snow and ice on the mountain peaks but we didn't have time to stop on the way to catch our cruise. Luckily the lights were at green and I followed a car in the tunnel where it was pitch black and all I could see was the breaklights of the car in front of me. It was insane and it was that dark that I didn't even realise that we were going down a fairly steep hill until I felt the car speeding up and had to hit the brakes. It was then that you realised the road was soaking and you could then feel all the water seeping through the rocks and pouring down on the car as if it was raining in the tunnel. This tunnel is 1,270 meters and was carved out from from solid granite and took nearly 20 years to complete. On the way back I videod Gemma coming through the tunnel which hopefully you can watch by clicking here.

On the way back we also pulled in to go and explore the glaciers. There is a sign that tells you not to go down to the glaciers due to falling ice but I couldn't resist so ran onto one of them to see what it felt like to be really cold again and experience some of that weather you guys back home have been loving all winter!

We were then able to go on a short walk to admire the icy scenery and more waterfalls which looked fantastic. whilst here we came across a native Kea bird which is part of the parrot family.



































































Pop's View:

Pop's view was a little viewing point where you could pull over at the side of the road to look back at the mountains of Milford and over Hollyford Valley.









Mirror Lakes:

Arguably one of the nicest places we visited all day was the last in Mirror Lakes. A five minute walkway takes you around small lakes on the roadside that provide outstanding reflective views of the Earl Mountains.The sun had came out nice at this time and made the place perfect. It was a great end to a good day of sightseeing.