Milford Sound

Next up, Milford Sound! Located in Fiordland National Park, in the southwest of the south island, it is known for towering peaks and waterfalls. Milford Sound is not actually a sound, its a fiord. Sound’s are formed when a river valley is flooded by the sea, whereas fiords, like Milford Sound are carved out by erosion from ancient glacial ice. Its also one of the wettest places on earth where it gets an average annual rainfall of 6800mm and rains 182 days of the year. Although beautiful to visit rain or shine, we were welcomed with a warm sunny day. It’s the most popular place to visit in NZ for tourists and, although, its the off season, we were still expecting a busy day!

We camped the night before in the town of Lumsden, which is about a 3 hour drive to Milford Sound requiring a long winding morning drive through the center of the south island. It was recommended that we take a boat tour, as it is probably the best way to see all of the sound. We picked a later afternoon boat trip so we could be out there for sunset. The drive out there is incredibly scenic! You drive past farmland, lakes, towering mountains and native forest. Before heading down a crazy windy and narrow road to the sounds you pass through a 1.2km tunnel through solid rock which was pretty neat. Before this tunnel was built there was no road access and it took them 19 years to build. I’m pretty sure my dad thought he was going to die on these roads, although Keegan and I had a great time haha.

Once you arrive at Milford sound you basically have a few options, look at the fiord from land, kayak or boat. There isn’t really a town there, just a tourist centre and a shit ton of buses and campervans. There are also about 10 boat companies to pick from which are all lined up on the water waiting for you. We went with Mitre Peak cruises; they were the last boat to get out on the water for the day and the smallest of the bunch. There were only about 10 people on the cruise with us which was really amazing because it felt like we had the area to ourselves. What a magical place to see! Besides incredible mountain views and waterfalls, milford sound is also home to some pretty cool wildlife. At the opening of the inlet to the sea, we got to hang out with a large pond of dolphins which was definitely a highlight for me!もっと詳しく