The Milford Sound

From Queenstown, my friend Willem and I headed west towards Te Anau, where we would spend a night and then drive to Milford Sound the next day.

On our way we stopped and hiked part of the Kepler Track. The views were absolutely stunning.

After a low-key night in Te Anau, we left the following morning for the two hour drive to Milford Sound, where we were booked on a boat cruise through the sound. We were greeted by a lovely rainbow on the way out of town.

As we got closer to the sound, the rock formations became more and more imposing. We lined up to drive through the tunnel. The hundreds of waterfalls are a result of the massive amounts of waterfall Milford Sound receives. The area is one of the wettest in the world, receiving almost 7 meters of rain each year (that's 268 inches!). It rains more days than not, so we were not surprised that it was raining the entire morning while we were there. Unfortunately this meant that it was foggy, which made it difficult to see the sound and all the views very well. However, we forged on...

The Milford Sound is the top tourist destination in New Zealand. Here's what it looks like on a clear, dry day.

The views we got were different, but majestic.

Trying to stay dry on the boat, but that didn't work out very well...

The official geographical definition of a sound is a large sea or ocean inlet. In the case of the Milford Sound, it's also a fiord since it was formed by a glacier. You can't really tell from the photos, but Milford is absolutely huge. Some of the rocks rise up to 1,200 meters on either side of the sound.

The top disappears in the fog...

The waterfalls were amazing.

The wind was so strong, and the waterfalls so high, the water was blown all over the place.

We enjoyed ourselves, but were miserably cold and wet at the end...

After the cruise, we jumped in the car and headed back towards Te Anau. There are lots of little hikes and views along the way, but since it was raining, we cut the list short. One of the stops we made was at Mirror Lakes, where because of the characteristics of the water, it supposedly acts as a mirror to the mountains behind. However, with the clouds and rains, the "mirror" was a bit foggy!

Next stop: the southern scenic route and the Catlins. More to come soon!!