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Published: December 25th 2006
Milford Sound has stolen my heart. I have fallen utterly and completely under its spell, captivated and enchanted. It's one of those rare places that just takes your breath away and leaves you literally gasping in its majesty. We had the opportunity to see it both in the sunshine, in which it was stunning in its sparkling glamour, and in the overcast drizzle which is typical weather for the sound, which was spooky, ethereal, and magical with the clouds hiding the topmost levels of the peaks. I was bewitched.
The mountains surrounding the sound are granite, carved out by glaciers millions of years ago. They rise more than a mile above water level. If you look closely in some of the photos, you can see the three-level cruise ship is a dot against the size of the peak. And you'll never believe this but there is no dirt on the mountains - the trees grow in moss which clings to the granite, mineral-rich surface. As you would guess this is fairly precarious, and tree avalanches actually happen, where one tree topples, losing its footing, and takes out an entire swath of trees along with it.
We cruised around
the sound with a small cruise operator - definitely the best way to go. Believe it or not we actually saw dolphins! The dusky dolphins were in a pod of probably around 50 dolphins or so, and they came right up to the boat. They were playing in the wave at the bow of the boat, where they can just flow along for the ride with very little effort. Sooo amazing. Tang got a great video which hopefully she'll share with us all. After this not much could have topped that as my favorite New Zealand memory, but the Milford Deep Observatory comes close. It's a marine life observatory - basically a cylinder placed 10m underwater, with big windows so you can see everything that's happening. It was unbeilevably cool. Plus, since it's on a marine reserve where you're not allowed to leave any traces, the building is green - generating its own power and the refuse gets shipped out to be dumped offsite.
The people in Milford were so awesome. It's a tiny itty bitty little town and everyone knows everyone else. I can't imagine it would be fun to be there forever, but it must be an
Mitre Peak is BIG
If you look closely, you can see a white dot that is a 3-decked cruise ship. That's how big these peaks are.awesome place to stay for a few months just chilling and enjoying the lifestyle of being around boats & water & fish & marine life all day, every day.
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