The Fiords, “Milford Sound”

It’s not me that can’t spell fjord it’s the Kiwis. All around the south west coast are some nice crinkly edges to the coastline, where the glaciers have carved out a number of fiords. One of the most spectacular is Milford Sound. Which was first discovered by a Welshman John Grono. He named it after Milford Haven in South Wales. It was later renamed Milford Sound, not realising that it was not a sound but a fiord. Milford has a depth of 350m but some of the fiords are almost 500m deep.

Getting to Milford Sound involves a climb of 900m up a long winding mountain road, a trip through a 1.5km tunnel carved through the mountain which drops by 100m over it’s length the a further 800m mountain road down to Milford.

On the way I stopped to look at a waterfall and chasm.

 

The road to Milford.

My first view of Milford Sound, The weather was not looking good but the forecast for the next day was better so a booked a boat trip and found a camper van site for the night.

Throughout the night it poured down it was so heavy that it kept me awake hammering on the camper van roof. The rainfall here is 9 meters a year. A guide told me that last year they had a drought, it did not rain for 7 days! By the morning it had stopped and it looked promising for later in the day, my trip started at 11.30.

One of the advantages of the overnight rain was all the waterfalls running down the mountains. There are only 3 permanent falls in the sound.

Some fur seals on the rocks.

Fairy Falls.

A tree avalanche, the forest grows down the steep sides of the mountain, all the roots are entwined and if one tree dies for some reason and falls it starts an avalanche and all the trees end up in the water.

 

Out into the Tasman sea near St Anne’s Point

Visibility improved on the way back but a lot of the waterfalls had stopped.

A sea lion basking.

Stirling Falls, 155m drop.

The clouds are lifting very quickly.

Mount Pembroke 2014m with a permanent glacier on the top.

Mount Pembroke on the right and Mitre Peak 1682m on the left it claims to be one of the highest mountains in the world to rise up from the ocean floor.

Lady Bowen Falls, this falls 161m and supplies all the water for the town of Milford and also all the electricity.

Another view of Mitre Peak, I understand this is quite a rare sight.

Now the trip back over the mountain. Views down the valley.

The tunnel entrance above.

Out of the Homer Tunnel again. The tunnel is only wide enough for 1 vehicle there are four passing places but during the day time there are traffic lights which have a 15 minute turn around.

Back down the mountain and find a camp for the night.