South Island Day 5 – Milford Sound

After an amazing drive through the mountains, a tunnel, and with a bunch of walking trips on the side, we finally arrived in Milford Sound.

The first thing we noticed (other then the beauty of course), was how it wasn’t very ‘commercial’.  A very small place, with a pub, and a pier. A selection of tours you can go on.. but no McDonalds or anything like that.. Good stuff.

We got there about a half hour before the last tour, so the timing worked out great again..  One annoying thing though was that while we wanted to sit and wait on the pier, the ‘sand flies’ were just too much. Swarms of them came at ya if you stopped moving.. So we waited indoors for the most part. Above is the view from the Pier, with the boat we were about to go on, and Mitre Peak in the background.

Soon, we were off on the couple hour tour..  The guides were pretty interesting, with the odd joke here and there.. He informed us that we had come after one of the longest droughts – 9 days without rain.. But thanks to the rain over the past 2 days, nearly all the waterfalls were alive…

Here is a slightly warped panoramic looking ahead to where we were going..

 
 

Sooo many waterfalls.. it’s hard to cut down on the photos I’m posting up here.. but just know it’s just a small sample..  As we were boating along, the captain noticed a small pod of dolphins.. so we followed them around for a bit.. First time I ever saw wild dolphins.. They came to check us out as well..

Again, the water was a brilliant blue.. and the surroundings were amazing.. Here is a short clip of the dolphins – sorry about the camera work, but I did a quick pan just to quickly show where we were..

  

We continued on.. Just in awe of the waterfalls and the natural beauty.. We were told many of the cliff faces had precious metals in them, but they were protected by the national lands.. Here are a bunch of pics..

 
 

 
 

The boat came up right under one of the waterfalls.. So i took a clip of that as well.. You can also just make out the fish that were swimming around under it..

 
 

The tour continued on.. And then happened upon a few Furry Seals sunbathing..

I also took a film of them hoping around.. Again, quite a shaky film, sorry!

 
  

We continued on, to where the land gave way to the ocean / Tasman sea, it got pretty choppy out there, so we turned around, and headed back in..

More of the waterfalls..

At one point, the clouds gave way to a bit of sky.. so we had to take a pic! first bit of blue sky in awhile!

Being the last tour out, they offered ‘End of day specials’ – all the leftovers at a cheap cost.. Paid a buck for a cup of pretty tasty soup..

Once docked, we headed back down the road to Te Anau, with just a couple stops to make.. There were just a couple spots on the way up that we noted down to stop at when coming back..

A “Slip” as they call it, where a side of a mountain has an avalanche – but not snow – trees and soil.

Another little waterfall above, and another great view of the valley while driving back:

And a great view along the valley river:

And one final shot that I love, of a misty tree..

Then, it was back at our campsite, to pack for tomorrow’s start to a 3 day hike into the mountains, along the Routeburn track!