Milford Sound, 2018

We rode out the storm February 1st, heavy rain beginning the evening before, then throughout the day and night and into the next morning. We've been to Milford Sound twice before--walking in 2009, and kayaking, and driving in and tenting and cruising in 2014--and we wanted to see it again, not merely because it's one of the world's great sights, but because of the waterfalls we figured would sprout up after the cyclone. There are glaciers and perennial snowfields all around, and scores of waterfalls from them, but after a heavy rain (we knew from 2009), scores more open up spectacularly, if briefly. So we undertook the 120k drive from Te Anau to Milford.

For the first 90k or so, it's mostly Lake Te Anau to look at, then, after the Divide
(and the western end of the Routeburn Track), things get alpine, interesting...

Waterfalls en route

More waterfalls; but, alas, these, and everything else we saw, are
perennials; as a Routeburn hut warden later explained, those
cloudburst waterfalls last just hours...and we were there the next day

Nonetheless, there was plenty to look at

The old, rough-cut, one-way, 1200m Hollyford Tunnel; still a thrill!

Alpine driving

More waterfalls

Valley

Iconic Milford view

Mitre Peak

The Sound and surroundings

Cruise boats and ships arriving/departing every few minutes

We thought we'd take a short lakeside walk...but the king tides were still in effect,
apparently

And we were soon driven back by water rising over the boardwalk!

The fiord suddenly became quite still and I got this wonderful shot (not!)

Headed back

We stopped briefly in Te Anau and then drove all the way to the lay-by on
Lake Wakitipu, near Kington, where'd we had lunched a few days before, and
stopped there for the night