Milford Sound
✒️ Written by: James
Above painting of Milford Sound by Joseph Jack Lister (1889).
Milford Sound is far from Queenstown. So, by necessity, we were up at sparrow fart: a 6am alarm to get to the bus stop at 7am. Like all the other dazed half-awake tourists, we got sorted, identified, and packed onto a bus. There was one particular woman whose job it was to get the amorphous flock of bumbling backpackers neatly divided amongst the multiple waiting coaches. She was on it. No-one argued and no-one questioned her authority. I wouldn't be surprised if she cut her teeth as a maximum-security prison guard, getting violent inmates from A to B and taking no crap in the process. Her spirit animal is probably a highly obstinate sheep dog.
The drive down to Milford Sound from QT took ~6 hours ( yawn ) but the views made it worth every second. It started with still-slumbering hills blanketed in early morning mist:
And then the hills gave way to valleys and soon after we were meandering through the snow-capped (and glacier-capped) Southern Alps. If you have a fear of rockfalls or a general mistrust of inattentive bus drivers launching over cliffs, then this probably wouldn't be the drive for you. But for us, the scenery was captivating. Crystal clear valley streams amongst the awe-inspiring sheer scale of the mountains.
We did stop on the way down to take a few pics:
Above is Abbie seemingly doing her scarecrow impression.
A definite highlight was our en-route stop at Mirror Lakes. They're aptly named - they provide a mirror-like reflection of some proud mountains squatting in the near distance. They're well sheltered and so the surface of the water is dead still and the water itself is dark; I wasn't able to find any definitive sources, but I think this helps make it more reflective by improving perceived colour contrast.
Then we arrived at Milford Sound itself. It's spectacular; real jaw dropping stuff. We were funneled onto Pride of Milford (a touring boat operated by Southern Discoveries) and made our way up to the top deck. The wind was brutal at times, but the sun was out and it was a clear day. The wispy clouds were sluggishly winding their way around the inner faces on the valley mountains.
Along the route down the sound, we paused at various points of interest. The first of these was the creatively-named Seal Rock which hosted a few male New Zealand fur seals basking in the sun. These were almost hunted to extinction in the 1800s for their fur, but their numbers have since made a comeback and they're now considered LC (Least Concern) by the IUCN.
There are other animals that can be spotted in the sound including kea, the bottlenose dolphin, and the little blue penguin, but none of these made an appearance for us.
Once we had made our way out to the Tasman Sea, we turned around and came back in, this time pursued by a 75,000 tonne Norwegian cruise ship which acts as a good reference as to the sheer size of the mountains which frame the sound.
Below is the picture I took which I think best captures the essence of the scenery, followed by some other miscellaneous shots. Click here to see the full resolution image (11.2MB).
I'll let the rest of the pictures do the talking. Notice just how much atmosphere is between the camera and the upper part of the mountain in this next one. And that's no small waterfall either.
All in all, well worth the many hours sat on a bus to get there (and just as many for the return journey). We can't recommend it enough. Definitely a sound experience!