Milford Sound

Milford Sound was amazing!!! In planning for this trip everyone we talked to told us if there was one place we were to do visit it must be Milford Sound. So this was a must on our list of stops during our South Island holiday. Pictures fail to do it justice. It was a favorite of our family! We took a cruise to get up close with the jagged peaks, huge waterfalls, and wildlife. On the cruise Matt stood in one of the raging waterfalls and got soaked. We got to drink the fresh waterfall water, which tasted amazing! Milford Sound is densely forested and was sculpted by glaciers. It rains a lot here and we were blessed with great weather. It was a day to remember!!

After eating lunch we headed down to the docks to get our scenic cruise of Milford Sound.

The sand flies were awful so we couldn't stop walking for long.

The views were stunning! It is very unusual to get a sunny day in Milford Sound. 

Most days it actually rains...so we were blessed to get the weather we did. Milford Sound gets an average of 7m (23 feet) of rainfall annually. I LOVE the way the clouds look in these pictures against the mountains. 

This is a view of Mitre Peak (Rahotu). It is a spectacular, 1692m-high (mountain rising from the Milford Sound. This image has dominated NZ tourism. The road to Milford Sound dead ends to a central view of this peak. Milford Sound gets tons of visitors each year.

 All ready for our 2 hour cruise of Milford Sound.

 The Skipper on our cruise got us nice and close to the waterfalls and wildlife. They were amazing.

 Fresh water from the waterfalls...delicious!

 The boat took us out to the Tasman Sea for a quick little bit, which was really rough, 

and then turned around and headed back.

Matt ventured in one of the waterfalls.  I LOVE the look on Matt's face in this picture, a giant grin.

 After our cruise we got to visit a floating underwater observatory where we could view life underneath the water - deep-water corals, tube anemones and bottom-dwelling perch. Milford Sound is very unique because the top layer of water is fresh water and then there is salt water underneath.