Fiordland is one of the most inaccessible areas of New Zealand and generally the weather is wet and windy....we were so lucky with the sun.
Milford Sound is accessible from the Tasmanian Sea or via the one road we had driven up - however when you reach the start of the Sound there is nothing there except the launch area for the tourist boats and some car parks - it is truly unspoilt.
Technically Milford Sound should be called Milford Fiord. Sounds are carved by water and fiords by ice. Glaciers are the most powerful erosive force on earth and they carved out Milford Sound. Over the last 2 million years, there have been at least 20 ice ages in Fiordland and the last ice age retreated about 14000 years ago, (I hope all you geographers are getting this!!)
Arthur and I were blown away by Milford Sound - we were on a really friendly boat the Wanderer....
and then the views started.....
Almost immediately we were on a short detour to investigate some splashing - Bottlenose dolphins playing in the water ...but not easy to get shots of
This waterfall is Stirling Falls and is dropping from a hanging valley where a higher glacier would have met the huge Milford Sound glacier....
and then we came across New Zealand fur seals....
In the 1800's they were hunted almost to extinction but now 10000 live in Fiordland.
The day was so calm that we could leave the fiord and go into the Tasmanian sea....
it was really amazing....
The boat went right under this waterfall - pretty spectacular....
All in all a day to remember.........
1 comment:
Incredible views:) dad's probably in his element with the camera x
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