Milford Sound

By Jen.

I have been looking to going to Stewart and Ulva Islands for a while now so that I can see the birds. With April just around the corner, we figured we ought to be finishing off our Southern Island adventures. I had hoped to go directly to Stewart Island from Dunedin and Invercargill, but the weather wasn’t playing nicely. So, instead we went to Milford Sound. We booked a cruise through Southern Discoveries so that we could get out on the water and also enjoy the underwater observatory.  Because I took so long trying to pick out replacement shoes in Invercargill (I am not very good at shoe shopping and didn’t want to end up with a disaster), we didn’t get much of a chance to explore the road on the way. But, we got up early enough to stop and see The Chasm on the way in. The Chasm is a pretty cool formation where there is just a narrow slit in the rocks to let the river pass. Could have walked across in parts, even without a bridge.

Near the Homer’s Tunnel.

Next up was the cruise. I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would. Everyone raves about Milford Sound, so I thought it would be amazing. It wasn’t really anything different from what we have been experiencing. And, the sun rarely shines there, as they get 6-7 meters of rainfall a year here! To be fair, though, I didn’t dress warmly enough and, thus, was really cold while out on the water. Comfort affects opinions. It didn’t rain, but the sun was hidden behind the clouds and the wind picked up even more the longer we were on the water. There were some really fun parts to it, though.

The famous view of Mitre Peak.

The once-a-week pod of dolphins came to visit while we were there.

We even saw a late-season Fiordland Crested Penguin, but sadly, I wasn’t able to get a good picture.

They kept taking the boat up and into the waterfalls. This one was a biggie: Bowen Falls. The water and wind gushing from these falls was incredible.

Then we entered the underwater observatory (kinda the reverse of an aquarium). A many-legged starfish having lunch.

Black coral (misnomer, as it is actually white) with a snake star in it. The snake star is a type of starfish that cleans the coral.

By the time we were back from the cruise, it was starting to rain, so we decided to call it day. On the way back, we saw the infamous kea that haunt this side of the Homer Tunnel.

A few facts about Milford Sound.  First, it was carved by an enormous glacier.  As you will see in later posts, almost 3000ft of ice covered areas of the fiordlands. Due to the extreme rainfall, the top 1-5 meters of the sound are tea stained fresh water.  This blocks most of the sunlight, so the ocean water below is dark and cold.  This results in many deep ocean  species taking up residence at depths less than 30 meters.