Milford Sound, NZ

Milfiord Sun.

Sounds like a fiord, looks like a fiord, and is found in - you know it - Fiordland. The fact that Milford Sound remains incorrectly named is the most preposterous show of cartographical incompetence since Captain Cook gave Banks an Island. And the rest of them - Doubtful, Dusky, Sutherland, to name a few - are no more excusable. Piopiotahi you have my vote.

The closest I've been to Milford Sound is an old canvas painting that used to hang on the wall in Baa's living room. It's a reflection of Mitre Peak from the head of Milford Sound - and it comes with Baa's claim to fame: she was the first woman to reach the summit. Now Baa's claim has not been founded and if you're lucky enough to catch her on a few savvy blancs, she might just admit her attempt fell a few feet short. Nonetheless, her story stands and that old oil painting shows Mitre Peak today no less impressively than #mitrepeak would retrieve on Instagram. That's not something to be taken lightly when the old rock sees over half a million visitors per year!

Another thing Milford sees plenty of is rain. Unbelievable quantities of rain. Rainy Auckland sees on average about 1.3m per year (maybe not this year...); Milford sees 6.5m per year and if it hasn't had rain in 10 days, they're in drought. Having driven all the way from Queenstown in some rather damp conditions, when we drove through the Homer Tunnel into sunshine, spirits were soaring and our jaws on the floor. We'd nailed it! The irony was that Milford Sound's reknowned waterfalls were running at all time lows, some not even existent. Waterfall schmaterfall, we'll take sun.

We'd scored a cheap deal on what turned out to be a very empty cruise. No doubt ready to cater for those half a million tourists, Milford Sound cruises were by far the most visibly impacted tourism business we've come across to date. But they were still operating, so there's hope...I guess.

Milford put on a show for us that day, no doubt. Stunning scenery and entertaining commentary made the time fly, and we're keen to come back for the Milford Track, to tame Mitre Peak and for some pacific cray hunting one day. All said, we were very much 'shown' Milford Sound this time.

We departed back into the rain for a night in a cosy Te Anau air bnb. It seemed like forever waiting for the sun to rise the next moring, but by 8.30 we were able to head our for an icy run to the start of the Kepler track.

Manapouri's finest cafe took care of the rest of the morning, as we set up for a few hours work which succumbed to heavy distraction as we observed the coming and goings of the locals.

A short and sweet swoop into the deep south, lwft much to be desired. We'll be back.Read more