Milford Sound

The last weekend of May we drove to Milford Sound and took a nature cruise. Milford Sound is a fjord in the south west of New Zealand's South Island, within Fiordland National Park, and is New Zealand's most famous tourist destination.

This was the boat we were on -- the Milford Mariner. It was pretty big and for the season (winter) it had enough people on board.

Milford Sound runs 15 kilometers inland from the Tasman Sea and is surrounded by sheer rock faces that rise 1,200 meters or more on either side. The big peak in this picture is Mitre Peak for its similarity to a cardinals hat. Lush rain forests cling precariously to these cliffs, while seals, penguins, and dolphins frequent the waters – but we only saw one baby seal.

This waterfall is as high as a 50-storey building according to our guide. Milford Sound is known as the wettest place in New Zealand and one of the wettest in the world.

The rainfall creates dozens of temporary waterfalls (like this one) cascading down the cliff faces, some reaching a thousand meters in length. The day we were there had a bit of rain but not enough to really show off all the waterfalls.

Sunset over Milford Sound.