Milford Sound

As noted in a previous post, we went to Milford on my birthday. We had debated whether to take the kids skiing (because that would have been seriously cool to ski in June), but decided that with the after effects of swine flu we would be better off not doing anything too strenuous. Instead, we decided to drive 8 hours for a 1 1/2 hour cruise on the sound. A couple of hours into the drive we were seriously questioning this decision (there are a lot of sheep in New Zealand), but as you can see from the pictures it was clearly worth it.

The picture of Colin was taken right before going through Homer Tunnel. The tunnel is straight, narrow, dark, long and downhill. I don't think we have ever been in a tunnel where you come out further down the mountain than when you went in.

(Photo from NZ transit)

We took the following pictures before getting on the boat for our afternoon cruise. Mitre Peak (behind Brooklyn) is one of the most photographed mountains on the sound.

This is the Milford Monarch, the boat we went on, with Mitre Peak behind.

There are two permanent waterfalls on the sound. However in the rainy seasons there can be dozens of waterfalls cascading down the cliffs. The following pictures show how large the waterfalls appear up close and how small they are in relation to the mountains.

There is no soil on these mountains - the trees hold on by intertwining their roots with other trees. Sometimes, one tree lets go and this causes a "tree-slide", as other trees lose their grip.
This waterfall is supposedly twice as tall as Niagara Falls.

An awesome look back at Milford Sound, which is really a Fjord.