Milford Sound

One of the classic New Zealand stops is Milford Sound. Declared “the 8^th wonder of the world” by Rudyard Kipling, it is often what comes to mind for travelers when they think of New Zealand. There is the sound itself (which is actually a fjord) but also Fiordland National Park, the largest reserve in New Zealand, that houses the sound, among many other spectacular slices of nature.

One of the reasons we have enjoyed camping is that it often allows us to stay longer in beautiful natural places, long after the tour buses and motel-bound visitors have departed.  This was never as clear a benefit for us as in Milford Sound, where we spent a few days in the broad glacier-carved valley that leads to Milford Sound.  Taking in the scale and beauty of the landscape on the two-hour drive to Milford would have been too quick for us to really appreciate where we were.  I found I took a little bit of time to fully absorb the majesty of the surroundings.  Perhaps it was the hype leading up to it, or it was due to the scale and abundance of mountains and water in many different forms, or perhaps my eyes had already taken in such vast amounts of natural beauty in New Zealand.  Whatever the reason I was appreciative that we had a few days to soak in Milford Sound and Fiordland. 

I am at a loss for how to capture the beauty of the park in words, but Leo describes it beautifully:

"From valley bottoms, sheer expanses of stone rocket 2000 meters steeply towards the sky. The summits of the mountains are draped in snowfields that give way to golden tundra before becoming lush green forests. Fingers of waterfalls make their way down from hanging glaciers, braiding and branching their way back down. Every crook and cranny that can hold soil is filled with alpine greenery draping and overhanging the steep cliffs. It is a combination of rock, water and plant life that rarely occur is such dramatic proximity to each other."

This is our car, stopped on the road while sheer walls adorned with waterfalls dwarf us.

We made our way to Milford initially through rolling hills and farmland until the hills got bigger and the peaks snowy.  Soon we were seeing beautiful vistas everywhere we looked and pulling off the road for quick walks to see waterfalls and mountain peaks.

Mirror Lake - A stop right off the road that hosts bus loads of camera toting tourists.

At Mirror Lake we turned around and that was the mass of people coming down the walk from the buses!

A peak in the distance

Another beautiful look out.

Huge slabs of rock with glaciers and waterfalls, again within sight while driving on the road.

Another stop right off the road, the "Chasm" is a walk that takes you past Dali-esqu rock formations sculpted and hollowed out by the Cleddau River and errant pebbles and stones that have been washed down river.

The drive to Milford takes you past beautiful views, but it is not until you emerge on the other side of the Homer Tunnel, a 1.2 km tunnel that pierces through the mountain, that things get really jaw dropping.  One of my favorite lines in a guidebook was (to paraphrase) “if you have any wows left, now is the time to let them out".   The Homer tunnel entrance is also where we spent an uproarious hour with the alpine parrots, the infamous Keas.  I spoke a bit about them in the “sharing” post.  It was a highlight for all of us to see these beautiful and clever birds up close.  It was also hilarious to watch all of us try to shoo them off the car.

We camped at a beautiful campground for a couple nights with a stream burbling next to us and mountains looming in the distance.  We wandered around the campground looking for rabbits and fan tail birds, watching rainbows and “fairy dust” (fluff from plants blowing on the breeze). 

Tent nestled under the trees by the babbling brook.

The view from our tent.

The jackpot in tent sites - a picnic table to use!

From the campground we drove to Milford Sound proper to take a cruise on the sound.  I have nothing to say about the experience that hasn’t been said before about Milford Sound, but my pedestrian description is that the sound is beautiful, a bit magical and the sense of scale is mind blowing.  Big boats look like dinghies, towering spires look like simple rocks, and crashing waterfalls are mere trickles.  Our boat nosed right up under some of the waterfalls and we played in the gentle spray of one and the full downpour of the other.  The kids were gleeful to be the only ones to stay outside and get thoroughly soaked.  

Soaked and invigorated after braving the waterfall on the front deck.

Water + Sun = lots of rainbows

This was a giant cruise ship that came into the sound.  It looked like a small ferry.  It was not.

This waterfall is three times the height of Niagara Falls (or so we were told)

Before leaving the park we were embarked on the "Key Summit" hike that got us up off the valley floor to appreciate the view from up high.  This hike is the end (or the start) of the Routeburn Great Walk.  It was blowing and breezy at the top, in high alpine tundra, with clear skies and crisp peaks all around.  The lakes nestled in valleys were brilliant turquoise.  The walk was well worth the effort and bribing with chocolate.

From the road, a trail, the water or up high, a picnic table at the side of a highway or from a lush forest walk, Milford Sound and Fiordland National park were spectacular.  It is fair to say that it lived up to the hype.