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Published: January 16th 2009
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So we had read about Milford Sound and the huge amount of rainfall it receives. After all, it is a rain forest! We figured we’d been getting more than our fair share of fabulous weather so the day we chose to go to Milford it would of course be raining. We set off early, around 8.30am (Hey that is early for us ok?!) from our base in Te Anau where we had spent two days relaxing by the lake and eating Chinese take-away.
We knew within half an hour of driving the Milford Road (the only road in and out of Milford) that the weather was slowly turning against us. The Milford Road took us through some spectacular rainforest and it felt apt that the raindrops which had begun to fall were the size of coconuts.
We arrived at Milford Lodge at around 11am and hesitated for about 5 minutes before we exited the car and made our way to reception. Avoiding the giant rain drops wasn’t an option and within 3 seconds of running from the car we were both fairly saturated.
Cleverly, knowing how much rain Milford receives, we had booked ourselves onto a 1pm cruise
with transferable tickets. To be honest we didn’t even know they were transferable until Gareth called the cruise company to enquire about changing our booking to the next day. A very helpful lady assured him it would be no problem to move us to a later cruise or to the next day.
We considered this for about a millisecond before the weather forecast at reception popped into our heads. Just as bad if not worse for tomorrow, so we decided, lets just get on with it and at least we can come back and have a nice warm shower. If we swapped to the next day we would be hitting the road in wet clothes having already checked out at 10am.
So we mustered what little excitement we could and drove off down to the harbour. We joined the rest of our group on board our 20 meter cruiser and we were greeted over the intercom by our very jolly captain. He started off by thanking everyone for coming along despite the weather and reminded us that as it rains 200 days of the year in Milford, it was not unusual and there would still be plenty to
see.
As we moved away from the harbour he pointed out that we were actually quite lucky to have this torrential rain. Yes we were waiting for an explanation for this statement also! Apparently the fact that the rain was torrential and that it wasn’t just cloudy with some drizzle was working in our favour. The number of waterfalls was three times more than normal and some of the smaller waterfalls were much more ferocious, due to the constant and torrential rain which the area had received in the previous 24 hours.
Despite the limited visibility we were far from disappointed. The boat had huge viewing windows and relatively sheltered deck areas, so it we saw plenty of gorgeous waterfalls and the odd seal asleep on the rocks also. The captain was extremely knowledgeable and it was clear he had grown up in the area. He would come over the intercom now and again with some facts and figures and some interesting stories but he also allowed time just to sit back and enjoy the views from the nice comfortable cabin with our free teas and coffees.
We made it just about to the Tasman Sea before
we encountered some ‘rough’ water and the captain decided it was time to turn the boat around, (i’ve fished for mackerel in choppier seas than that.) But we were assured that the views on return journey would be just as breathtaking. We made our way back to the harbour along the northern edge of the fiord ( Yes Milford Sound is actually a fiord and not a sound as the name suggests - the difference being, a sound is carved out by a river and a fiord is carved out by a glacier). The northern side had a perilously high and sheer cliff face and some even more spectacular waterfalls which seemed to fall from heaven itself.
We took our time on the way back in, cruising back to the habour and even having time to bring the boat to a "boat wash". The captain steered the boat under one of the huge waterfalls advising everyone to come in off the deck as he did so. We had the prime seats right at the front of the cabin and watching the water pound the front deck with ferocious pressure was really awesome!
The rain was so fitting and
made for such an amazing cruise that it was difficult to imagine any other type of weather ever occurred in Milford.
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