Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Milford Sound, 2014

In 2009, we did the Milford Tramp, stayed in Milford a couple days, then did a morning's kayaking on Milford Sound, certainly New Zealand's best known fiord and one of its several World Heritage icons. (See http://roadeveron.blogspot.co.nz/2012/12/milford-sound-2009-we-return-you-now-to.html for some of our 2009 visit.) Anyhow, as we noted at the time, amateur kayaking really does not get you very far down/up the fiord, so we resolved this time to take the 2-hour day cruise. Although more famous and, some would say, more spectacular, Milford is much smaller than Doubtful Sound. Anyhow, here are some pix of the cruise, featuring, most notably, Mitre Peak, the aforementioned icon.
Standard view















Standard artsy-fartsy view















Heavy traffic on Milford Sound















Our ship, the Milford Haven; $49 including breakfast















Night before, we stayed at the Milford Sound Lodge campground
















Serenaded by cicadian rhythms















Next morning we were underway, cruising close by Mitre Peak
















And finding ourselves joined by one of those giant floating hotels, the Maid of the Sea or
somesuch
















Which made a quick U-turn opposite Mitre Peak and then hastened back out...
"Milford Sound, check!"
















Meanwhile, we are chugging along, past Copper Point, numerous waterfalls,
fault-lines, fur seals, kayaks, birds, etc., out onto the Tasman Sea; Milford Sound,
however, spectacular as it is in other ways, is rather featureless at its mouth



















Looking back in















More seals; later, we saw a couple hunting, but the pix were not so good
















More Sound scenery















Vicki, before the Seven Sisters...wait, no, that was Geirangerfjord





















Another attempt at a panoramic shot







Us, there; Milford Sound, check!

1 comment:

Tawana said...

Great photos. That is a beautiful place. Glad you could check it off your list!