"The Amazing Milford Sound"

One of the most renouned places to visit in New Zealand is the Milford Sound.

We were very curious to find what the difference was between a Fjord and a Sound and here is the answer: A Fjord is carved out by a glacier and is V-shaped under the water, whereas a Sound is carved out by a river and is U-shaped under the water. Fjords are only on the same latitude both above and below the equator. Hence, New Zealand, Chile and Norway have Fjords. Anyways, that's all technical bobbledy-gook.

One of our friends told us that Milford Sound wasn't all that the night before we left. I was a bit concerned if it would live upto our expectations. We were also told that in the morning it is so misty/foggy that you can't see much. That doubled my concern as Gin and I decided to take the first ferry to see the Milford Sound. The first ferry was at 9:30am, which meant we would have to leave Te Anau at 7:00am.

When we woke up in the morning at Te Anau, it was absolutely misty and we couldn't see much. So our concerns were real. We decided to drive up to Milford Sound anyways. It's about a 2 hour drive to get to Milford Sound from Te Anau. The mist made the visibility extremely poor. As we got closer to Milford Sound, to my surprise, the mist was starting to clear up. The drive to Milford Sound was absolutely stunning as we got closer to it. It reminded me of the Einstein's quote, "I love to travel, but hate to arrive." The journey leading to Milford Sound was so amazing, I was a bit worried if Milford Sound itself would be quite as incredible.

Our rental car company, Jucy, had an awesome 2-for-1 deal with Cruize Milford. Luckily, the first boat leaving at 9:30am had only 9 passangers in total on a boat with a capacity of about 100 people. This was the reason why Gin and I wanted to take the earliest cruise. By noon the place gets overrun by tourist and it spoils the beauty of the Sound.

Anyways, even before the cruise departed the terminal, the views were specticular. There was no mist or fog and it was a clear beautiful day. The cruise took about 90 minutes to complete with some of the most specticular natural beauty I've ever encountered. It was above and beyond both of our expectations. Snow covered mountains around with numerous waterfalls in the short visinity. We encountered seals along the way. It rains in Milford Sound about 160 days for a total of about 7 meters annually making it one of the most wetest places on earth. We lucked out with the clear blue skies with no visible signs of rain for miles. Both Gin and I thought that it was one of the best places on earth.