Milford Sound in New Zealand

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Today we are cruising the Tasman Sea between the southern tip of New Zealand and the southern tip of Tasmania, a large island just off the south coast of Australia. And since everything is upside down in this hemisphere, this is the point closest to the South Pole in our trip and therefore the coldest. Not really freezing, but very chilly and windy out on the deck and the seas are a bit rough. Thanks to some kind of magic in modern shipbuilding, the ship doesn’t roll in a way that makes people seasick, thank goodness. But we are all content to stay quiet inside. No picturesque loafers around the pool today.

Yesterday we sailed up Milford Sound on the coast of New Zealand - I had thought we were on the way to Australia, but there was one more spot to visit. Milford Sound was carved by a glacier eons ago in the mountains and the place looks like a fiord in Norway but without the ice - the glacier is long gone. But the scenery is spectacular, steep mountains and cliffs on each side that plunge into green water 1000 feet deep, with many waterfalls hundreds of feet high. The cruise ship captains make a game of butting their monster ships right into the cliff (an inch at a time, of course) under one of the waterfalls, so that the bow of the ship is soaked with spray. It sounds like a dangerous feat, but actually no harder to do I suppose than bringing one of these babies alongside a dock without even a tugboat to help. When I think about the trouble I once had doing the same with a motorboat, I’m mightily impressed. Anyway, this is the same country where they filmed some of Lord of the Rings too. below is a website that shows it in better weather than we had - it was overcast and didn’t make real good pictures. The ship didn’t actually dock here so we didn’t have a chance to get off an see anything else - not that there was a lot else to see, except a few other tourist craft. They say there’s very little access to the area except by ship or plane. Only one road in and it sometimes gets closed in the winter.

www.jasons.co.nz/lordoftherings/milford_sound.cfm

Tomorrow we dock at Hobart, Australia. More later!

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Photos

Milford Sound
The sound was long and narrow. Plenty of room for another ship and a few boats full of tourists.

Milford Sound
Another ship, up close and personal

Milford Sound
Heading for the waterfall. One of many around the sound. These waterfalls were spectacular.

Milford Sound
Inside the ship's observation deck looking through the window at the waterfall. We're getting close!

Milford Sound
The bow of the ship coming under the waterfall.

Comments

[toni]

roads
it was interesting reading the views of a person seeing milford sound from a cruise ship perspective. I worked in milford for 14 months and enjoyed seeing the ships come in. There is actually road access into Milford Sound, it is a beautiful drive and highly reccomended. It does get closed during the winter sometimes because of avalanches.