Milford Sound National Park, New Zealand (April 2018)

We had to start early today. 5:30am wake up call... 6:15am breakfast and bags out... 7:30 departure.

We stopped over at Mirrors Lake. It was not as impressive as the name implied, but nonetheless the scenery was serene.

The mountainous region we passed through was covered with clouds and the visibility was low. But we could feel the scale of the mountains. Some valleys receive 7 meters of rain a year. Knots Flat apparently received more than 10 meters of rain last year. On both sides of the road, we saw a lot of hair waterfalls all resulting from heavy rain.

We passed through a tunnel to get to Milford Sound. This tunnel, called Homer Tunnel, was wide enough for only one lane of cars can pass through. So vehicles have to wait until the other side of the traffic completes the passage. I was wonder... what if a car stops inside the tunnel...? It has taken them 20 years to build this tunnel, however, due to the avalanche threats. 

The Chasm is located inside Milford Sound National Park. It takes a 20 minute easy walk on a flat pathway in a rain forest to get there. It is a combination of waterfalls and several rapids. Water was gushing through rocks and you can look down at them from a bridge. The gushing noise at the Chasm still lingers around my ears.

Milford Sound itself was definitely the highlight of this tour for me. Its towering cliffs, very long hairline waterfalls all over the cliffs, mythical fogs and clouds were definitely unearthly. Later, I learned that there are trekking tours on the trails on the Milford Sound and elsewhere. It sounded really good.

We took a cruise boat to tour Milford Sound, Kingston Cruise. It was rainy at times and quite windy. But, the scenery was heavenly. Unfortunately, there is limitation to what I can do with iPhone camera. Oh well... We saw all three major waterfalls, namely Fairy, Stirling and Bowen Waterfalls.

We went out to the mouth of the Milford Sound, which is connecting to Tasmanian Sea towards Australia, and turned around. Apparently, Captain Cook missed this place twice in his journeys. The name Milford came from a name of a town where the person who discovered this place is from. But, the name Sound apparently was a misnomer. It was supposed to be Fjord. Both could result from the work of glaciers, but the sounds are supposed to be narrower and steeper than the fjords. People say that this Milford place should have been called Milford Fjord. But the name stands. We saw dolphins and seals.

We got close to Bowen Waterfalls, 150 meter high, because the captain said if you get wet by this water you will get 10 years younger. I got wet and do I look younger...? lol...

Kea is a bird native to the South Island of New Zealand. It is the only Alpine parrot and grows to about 48 cm long in size. It is mostly olive-green with a brilliant orange under its wings and has a large, narrow, curved, grey-brown upper beak. Once, it was hunted down because it was attacking sheep. Now it is protected under a law. 

Kea is known for its curiosity and high level of intelligence. It can easily open the zippers and can even move traffic cones to divert people for food. It can solve logical puzzles and will worth together to achieve a certain objective. We saw a gym made for Keas. How interesting!    

Milford Sound was so impressive to me and if I will ever return to New Zealand, it will be because of Milford Sound. - Jeffrey