Milford Sound

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I have been looking forward to today since I arrived in Te Anau, and excited about visiting Milford Sound since I first started reading about New Zealand.

But first some information for you all – Milford Sound is the smallest of the 14 ‘sounds’ in fiordland. However, the ‘sounds’ aren’t sounds at all, but Fjords – hence the name fiordland. The difference being in the way they are created. Fjords are created by glaciers – the weight of the ice carving out big ‘v’ shaped valleys in the cliffs. Sounds are created by rivers – moving water, which does not have the same power and weight as ice and forms shallower carvings. Therefore the ‘sounds’ in the fiordland were all incorrectly named, when this was realised, to rectify this, the whole area was named ‘fiordland’.

You may also have noticed I have spelt fjord in two different ways, fjord and fiord. The area was name fiordland, but it was also later realised that this spelling is not consistent with the rest of the world who spell it ‘fjord’. So, so far, they have misnamed the individual fjords as sounds, and incorrectly spelt the area…..they are doing well!

Now a tad of history….From the Tasman sea, there looks to be only rocks where the opening of the ‘sound’ actually is, and therefore it was not discovered until 1912 by John Grono, when his boat washed up there in a storm. John thought his boat was going to crash into the rocks, but instead it was washed into the ‘sound’ and he was not only saved but discovered the beautiful area! John named Milford Sound after Milford Haven in Wales, and this was later changed to Milford Sound as to fit in with the other 13 fjords they believed were ‘Sounds’ at the time.

To my day – Picked up at 8.15am by the minibus, and when all 13 of us were on board we headed off to Milford. We stopped along the way and absorbed some truly fantastic views. Firstly a view from one of the southern arms of lake Te Anau (which is actually the second largest lake in New Zealand with a length of 65km and an area of 344km). When then headed through the Te Anau farmland of rolling hills to the Mirror lakes (does what it says on the tin, and the reflections of the mountains were stunning). After the lake pools we headed to the casam – a river/waterfall area through the mountains – the rocks all around the falls beautifully smoothed from the constant water flow, it was very pretty. From here we headed up to the highest point at 494m, through the tunnel before crossing onto the Milford side. We then wiggled our way down of mountain roads – much like the mountain roads to ski resorts, which presented us with fantastic views of Mitre peak.

At Milford we boarded the boat and spent several hours cruising the 16km through the fjord out to the Tasman sea, past Bowden Falls, around Cemetry Point, through Sindbad gulley, around Copper point and seal Rock (where we saw the seals), past Anne’s point into Anita Bay, where the fjord meets the sea. The stillness of the water, and being surrounded by the steep mountain sides was just phenomenal. On the way out we also past the fault line – the point where the Oceania and Pacific plate meet – which I have to say was one of my highlights of the whole trip. Totally awe inspiring after learning so much about plate tectonics over the years, to actually see a boundary in real life!

A fab lunch was provided on the boat whilst we headed back through the fjord. Despite the overall views, my other favourite part of the trip was going right up to Stirling falls on the boat. This is a year round waterfall, and despite this being the driest Milford Sound has been for 60 years, the power in the waterfall was still massive. The roaring of the water, as the water hit the water in the fjord was amazing, and getting covered by the spray was fantastic. I can only imagine what it must be like after a month or so of heavy rain, just deafening! The final stop on the boat the Milford Underwater Discovery centre. After a quick, and actually interesting talk, we headed into the centre and 30m below the water surface where we observed the very rare black coral (I believe it only grows in two places globally) and a variety of fish.

Back on the bus I manage to stay awake for the 2.5hr journey to re-absorb the beautiful scenery I saw on the way to Milford. We are back at 5pm and the sun is shining brightly, so quick change into my shorts and head for a nice walk around the lake. Caroline texts and invites me round for dinner, confirming our rough plan from the other day, but I have to nip to the supermarket first as I have run out of shampoo and conditioner. In true style, shopping when you are hungry doesn’t work and I emerge from the supermarket two carrier bags heavier than when I entered, but at least I will have clean hair and a bottle of wine to take with me this evening!

I have a lovely evening at Caroline’s with wine and uber yummy healthy veggie food and homemade yoghurt. And as John is away on a course we spend the whole evening chatting, until we realise it’s nearing 11pm and we have a busy day ahead tomorrow, so off I pootle back to the hostel after an amazing day all round.

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