January 4th, 2006 - Milford Sound

We passed through Te Anau and headed straight down the famous drive to Milford. Milford is the furhtest town into the fjordland and is a popular place for tourists to get a boat into the fjords. Since my travels I have learned that a 'fjord' is a glacial valley that has since been flooded, where a 'Sound' is an expanded river valley that has been flooded - hence all of the names of the places in the fjordlands should be fjords and not sounds. I guess Milford Fjord just doesn't have the same appeal as Milford Sound? The drive was stunning and there were off and on showers which seems to be the story of our lives along the West Coast of the South Island. We arrived in Milford and jumped on our cruise to the ocean through the fjord, which is very close to where to plates collided and hence is very rugged terrain. Although very beautiful it wasn't quite as spectacular as everyone makes out, I must have set my expectations a little too high. There was a single lane tunnel through a mountain that was very impressive and as always, I was sure to take plenty of pictures. There were traces of glaciers everywhere and waterfalls streaming down the rock cliffs from everywhere due to the heavy rainfall in the area before we arrived. The drive back was less scenic than on the way in owing to a lousy rainstorm, but we plowed through and arrived in Te Anau shortly before 7 pm. That night we meandered into the tiny town of Te Anau - known as the 'Gateway to the Fjordland' and grabbed an Apple Strudle to complement our re-heated Pasta and Cheese. The next day we were scheduled to Horse Back Ride and I could hardly contain my excitement as I went to bed that night.