Milford Sound

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Milford Sound is a very small town with nothing more than a few houses and mainly accommodation for the hordes of tourists that come here to see the fiords on a boatcruise. Most of the tourists don't stay here but are on day trips. Others come here to go on multiday hikes around the mountains.

I arrived in Milford sound early in the evening, and after checking into my hostel, I drove down to the main part of the town that lies at the start of the fiords. It was an amazing sight with the sun setting in clear skies all around, quite rare for one of the wettest places on earth. The water coming from the sea moves inland between high mountains and cliffs, looking like a giant lake. The water was very quiet in the evening, and as the sun went down, the mountains reflected beautifully in the water.

After a short but good night's sleep I got up early to see the sunrise. Slowly, the sun started creeping up and shedding light on the mountain tops. Another good opportunity for photography!

Then, I went on the early boat cruise at 9am. The skies were still clear so the boat cruise was amazing. There are numerous waterfalls going down the cliffs, some small, some big. I was on a small cruise boat, and it got very close to the waterfalls. Because the wind was very strong, the waterfalls sometimes broke away to the side, spraying the water over a larger area. We got so close to one of the waterfalls that I had to go inside the boat not to be completely soaked in water. The wind also caused water from the sea to be sprayed up, and with the sun shining, that in turn created some beautiful rainbows near the boat. After about an hour we reached the end of the fiordland and we turned around, sailing on the other side of the fiords, with more amazing views of the sun rising and waterfalls plunging down the cliffs. After 2 hours, the cruise was finished.

I had planned a long drive to Dunedin, on the east coast, that day. I made a few stops along the way, with short walks (one of them was the "Chasm Walk") into the forest not far from Milford sound for some more incredible views of the mountain scenery.

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Comments

[Erik]

Photo Milford Sound
CRAZY beautiful photos, my good friend Tony! Especially like the first one, perfect reflection in the water. Keep up the good work. Heads up: new version of Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom in a couple of week...

[Ali]

Wow - superb shot!
Would love to see this as a panorama - on the photos page - look for the "add panorama" button. HTH