Milford Sound, New Zealand

A bus at the Milford Sound Airport takes us to the dock for the cruise portion of the tour.

Welcome to Milford Sound

Milford dock - Mitre Peak is on the right

We quickly find our boat and climb on board. Since we are some of the first to board, we grab seats just inside the bow.

Ah - there's our boat for the cruise

Boarding

It's such an amazingly beautiful day. Even the local crews are telling us weather this nice is rare and we are extremely lucky to be here on such a day. Looks like the word got out as all the boats are full of other lucky tourists such as ourselves.
From the dock, we head down the sound towards the Tasman Sea.

The colors on this day are stunning

Another plane flys in

Me & Jill enjoying a spot of tea

It's so nice out that soon we are all out on deck busily snapping photos and pointing out the sights.

A fellow passenger snaps a photo of the "The Lion" - the large rock formation in the middle

As we move down the sound, we see many waterfalls cascading over the steep granite sides, which were carved out by glaciers.

There's one straight ahead

Up close and personal to a

bridal veil type falls

Further along, the captain points out a colony of endangered New Zealand fur seals.

NZ fur seal colony

Most are snoozing in the sun

but a few are socializing after a swim

These little guys are Fiordland crested penguins or Tawaki, one of the rarest species in New Zealand

The water is so calm today, the captain takes us all the way out into the Tasman Sea before turning back. He tells us they rarely venture out so far as usually the seas are running so high they have to stay deeper in the protected sound.

Heading out towards the Tasman Sea

where we see a large flock of sea birds

before turning back into the sound

YES! We are having fun now.

It's hard not to keep snapping photos to preserve this day

On the way back to the dock, our captain takes us close to a high waterfall.  As the sun is now lower in the sky, we are in the shade with sun beams pouring over the top... but the captain doesn't stop and  guides the bow right under the falls. All of us snapping photos in the bow scramble into the cabin to escape the freezing torrent.

Top of tall waterfall

Closer still

Yikes! Glad to be inside behind glass

The whole crew is probably laughing hard at our reactions to their "Glacier Facial" surprise; however, we tend to think of it more as a "soak the tourists."  Looking back at the waterfall as we pull away, we see two more boats lined up for the same soaking.  The water was cold, but it was all in good fun. I'm just happy my camera's fine. On our way back to the dock, we pass a beautiful horsetail type falls.

Boats line up for their "Glacial Facial"

Horsetail type falls

On our way back to the dock

The afternoon is still so nice, I dawdle on the dock before entering the Visitors Center and then finding our bus back to the airport.

Debarking

Boats returning to dock

large jade stone in Visitor Center

Outside the Visitors Center lots of buses are lined up, as several backpacker groups are returning from hiking the Milford Track. The hikers we meet speak glowingly of their experiences on the trail.

Looks like several camper vans have driven the long distance in

Waiting to board our flight back to Wanaka

To tell you the truth, I was a bit skeptical before coming on this tour as we heard so much about how wonderful Milford Sound is that I was concerned it was over-hyped.  No longer.  Yes - I realize we are extremely lucky to have seen it on such a idyllic day. Still, this day ranks as one of the best in my lifetime.