Milford Sound

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  Milford Sound, New Zealand
Saturday, February 23, 2008

Today is another full day - 12 hours by bus to go to Milford Sound and back.  Everyone is offered the chance to return by small plane or helicopter (taking about 4 hours off the trip) at a cost of about $500.00 per person; I am pretty sure we will be staying on the bus.  We are going to cruise on  NZ's most important natural wonder,  the majestic Milford Sound and  see Mitre Peak, one of the highest mountains in the world to rise directly from the ocean floor.  It is  located in the beautiful area they call Fiordland. 

Again we have heavy cloud cover and I am hoping the weather will improve as this low cloud cover will make it hard to see  all this area has to offer.   By noon we have rain, and it shows no sign of letting up.  We enter the Homer Tunnel, an amazing 3,974 Ft of engineering built during the depression years.  We emerge into the Cleddau Canyon,  a huge canyon which over time has been shaped into round shapes and basins in the rock.  Our driver lets us out to see the waterfalls.  Because of all the rain it seems as though there are a hundred waterfalls, streaming down 600 feet from the face of the canyon, like ribbons of silver.  As I look up and turn in a circle I feel surrounded by mist, cliffs and falling water which are gushing from the immense  cliffs.  Awe inspiring.  It rains here over 200 days a year, and we picked one of them.

We get on our ship for the 2 hour cruise, buy some lunch and settle in.  The  fog lifts a little and I go on the upper deck for a few pictures, but  it is still too wet up there, and a light mist is still falling.  Even wet the Milford Sound is wonderful.  The  Mitre Peak emerges from the fog, looming out of the water.  Even in fog it is majestic  and I am frantically trying to take pictures.

Cleddau Canyon

The fiord we are traveling through  is about 9 miles long and 951 ft at it's deepest, and it's mouth is only about 394 feet wide.  It is exciting to travel through and today it is very rough, the Captain tells us he will likely not be able to make it all the way to the Tasman Sea before turning around .

On a day like today, with heavy rains the entire sound can feel like one great waterfall. We see sea lions on the rocks and the Captain slows down so that we can all have a good look and take photos, which is still very difficult because of the rocking of the ship and the rain that continues to fall.  I am outside, on the lower deck, crouched under the partial shelter of the upper deck and taking pictures when the Captain steers us almost under the biggest of the waterfalls, the Lady Bowen.  I have my back to the viewing deck, I am holding onto a railing and trying to keep my camera dry as we are almost under the waterfall.  There are one or two other fools on deck with me and we are screaming with excitement as we get even closer to the falls that are thundering around the ship, my glasses are wet, hopefully my camera is still dry!  I am praying for great pictures but no matter what I am always going to remember this feeling and I will never forget Milford Sound.   Once again it is over to soon and we are heading back to Queenstown.  

Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures

Into the Mist	Lady Bowen	Mitre Peak	Dawn on the Remarkables
Remarkables	Rolling Hills, Queenstown	Mirror Lakes	View at Mirror Lake
Ribbons	Pride of Milford	Into Milford Sound	Milford in the Rain
Mountains and Water	The Falls	Under the Lady Bowen

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