Day 15 - Milford Sound

Google Milford Sound. You’ll see that this place is in the running to be the 8th wonder of the natural world. Now there’s going to be a little section of facts here for those interested.

This area of the world has a lot to do with Wales, as it’s discoverer was a man from Wales. He named it Milford Sound after the area Milford haven in Wales, apparently they’re similar though I’ve never seen a Fiord in Wales. There are also a number of rivers gorges and gulley’s named after Welsh areas. When describing sizes of places around here people often compare the sizes of them to Wales, I’m not sure why Wales is usually the subject as many people don’t even know where it is. The Fiordland National Park is the size of Wales around 3.5 million hectares.

Milford Sound is one part of the park that is basically a Fiord that extends out to the ocean. It’s a stunning sight as you enter the boat harbour. You see the harbour and beyond is a magical looking cluster of glacial art framed by the ocean and clouds. This area gets on average 10 inches of rain per year but we went there on an overcast day which was good for us. We hopped on our boat and helped ourselves to the ‘Free’ all you can eat buffet on offer. By the time we’d finished the buffet we’d already hit the ocean so we stood outside for the return leg of the journey. The cliffs rise directly upwards form the sea. Duh David…It’s a Fiord I hear you say. But I think unless you really see the sight you can’t really appreciate the magnitude of this place.
The waterfalls cascade off the cliffs like huge leaks from the bush at the top, there are hundreds of them all over the park. Just imagine that after a few inches of rain it’d be like a Victoria falls from them.

This place was beautiful, though Milford Sound is just one part of the whole thing. The park itself is stunning and I would love to see it under a few feet of snow. I’m not sure I’d repeat the 8 hour bus journey again but I’d definitely make the effort to see the place again.

Holly and I went to Starbucks for some tea and a talk about nothing. Today was a good day.

Thanks for reading,

David & Holly

Home N' Hosed - Home safe and sound
After getting off the glacier and trekking back to the bus, we finally made it home n' hosed