Milford
Sound the "Eighth Wonder of the World"
A
120 km drive north of Te Anau brings you to Milford Sound, one
of the most spectacular places in New Zealand. Words can't express
what a powerful and moving experience it is to actually be there.
The Sound itself is 22 kilometres long and is home to the impressive
Mitre Peak, which stands at 1695 metres (over 5000 feet). The
huge bush clad Mountains rise steeply (almost vertically) out
of the calm serene waters of the sound to astonishing snow - capped
heights.
Milford
Sound is located in one of the highest rainfall areas in New Zealand.
Several (between 5 and 9) metres fall each year, and when it falls,
it really dumps. The day we were at Milford, the sun was out and
it was a stunning day. The locals commented on how unusual it
was to have sunny weather. The sun did not frighten off the sandflies
unfortunately.
Milford
Sound is not actually a sound but is a fiord by definition. A
fiord is a valley which has been inundated by the sea as the result
of glacier eroding the valley floor below todays sea level. Milford
Sound is the most accessable of 14 fiords in the Fiordland National
Park and one of the most spectacular.
Day
6, Thursday:
From
Te Anau we took the Milford Road to Milford Sound which was exceptionally
scenic.
First it runs north along Lake Te Anau, with plenty of viewpoints
to stop at. Then it continues up the Eglinton River valley, between
the Earl Mountains to the west and the Livingstone Mountains on
the east. We stopped at the "Mirror Lakes", where it
was still enough to get an incredible reflection of the mountains.
There were ducks and scaup (little diving ducks) there, but also
hordes of sandflies.
We
got to the docks and chose to take one of the longer
cruises, which goes outside the sound and turns around and comes
back in. There weren't many people on board the boat as it was
the end of the tourist season. Huge mountains, a rocky point with
seals, waterfalls, the ocean, ... none of the photos capture the
experience of Milford Sound. And it's almost impossible to grasp
the vertical scale involved anyway.
