1/5 - Milford Sound

Queenstown is located in the south central part of the South Island and is the closest city to New Zealand's famous fjords. After a nice buffet breakfast at the hotel, we travelled via RealJourneys Tour to one particular fjord called Milford Sound. (As explained to us, Milford Sound is misnamed--soundsare scoured by rivers, and fjordsare scraped out by glaciers. Milford Sound should really be Milford Fjord.) To get to the fjord requires a four-hour bus ride, enlivened by a well-informed driver who had been making the windy, mountain crossing traverse without incident for 32 years! Moreover, the drive was occasionally broken by stops for tea, photographs, or short hikes.



The morning was inauspicious with a temperature of 10° and a heavy overcast. But the driver was optimistic that once we got past the divide, conditions would improve. In fact, the conditions turned out to be ideal. The rain that had accompanied the clouds spawned a myriad of dramatic waterfalls that would disappear within hours of the rain's ending.



The actual tour of Milford Sound was via a cruise boat including a decent on-board lunch. Queuing to board the boat, we experienced the minor irritation of gnats, easily discouraged with a mild application of bug spray. Once underway, the bugs were left behind. The cruise, with the nascent waterfalls, was even more dramatic than the advertising photos depicting it. The cruise boat proceeds westward to the edge of the Tasman Sea. We saw seals on rocks along the shore and got wet when the boat briefly dipped into a permanent waterfall.



After finishing the cruise, the bus trip back went almost without incident. The one exception was when a line of traffic stalled in a tunnel because another tour bus couldn't fit through!