Milford Sound

Today we drove from Te Anau to Milford Sound, stopping at various viewpoints and short walks along the way to enjoy the scenery. Amongst the most scenic stops were the Mirror Lakes (1st photo) and “The Chasm” where a waterfall has burst its way through the surrounding rocks, leaving weird rock shapes in its wake. Arriving at Milford Sound and during our 2.5hr boat cruise through the fjord, the scenery was breathtaking. It is called a “Sound” but it is actually a fjord (they just didn’t have that word in the language when it was first discovered!). It was very much like some of the Southern Norwegian fjords and there were a number of waterfalls along the sides of the fjord. Laura and Solana ventured out on deck when the boat was taken close to one of the waterfalls and they got quite wet! We all enjoyed the boat trip and we got to see some native plants and more seals in addition to the great scenery. We also got to go to the Underwater Discovery Centre – a floating marine platform where you can see some of the marine life in the fjord. It is effectively a reverse aquarium – we are in the “tank”, whilst the marine life is free to go wherever it wants in the sea. We got to see some rare black coral (which actually looks white when alive, black when dead), that usually grows at depths of a few hundred metres but grows much closer to the surface in the fjord. We also saw some fish (mostly wrasse), tubeworms and giant mussels and clams – all without getting wet! We drove back in the evening, so it was a long day – but worth it.

A few days ago, we heard the very sad news that Laura’s Dad, Barrie, has finally lost his long battle with cancer. He was comfortable, peaceful and was with his wife Joyce and Laura’s sister Jackie. Although not unexpected, it is still difficult news to hear, especially when we’re so far away from home. He has been in our thoughts a lot as we’ve been travelling around, and will continue to be so....Read more