This was our last day in New Zealand and we had the pleasure of visiting Fiordland National Park. This nearly 5000 square mile park is also home to the UNESCO Te Wahipounamu site and includes many lakes, mountain ranges and fjords. Milford Sound was our destination and we arrived in the morning to a very brisk wind and cool temperatures. Our pilot and park ranger were boarded and we headed in.

To enter Milford Sound from the Tasman Sea by ship, it looks like you are going to run straight in to a mountain face. The passageway is tight, and you have to make a sharp slow turn before you actually see the full length of the fjord. The ranger explained that fjords are deep u-shaped valleys cut by glaciers and sounds are typically wider, shallower and flooded by rivers. By this definition, Milford Sound is really a fjord but was likely named a “sound” long before explorers understood the difference.

At 9.4 miles long and 900 ft deep, the fjord has soaring peaks and dramatic waterfalls. The area gets 252 inches of rain a year, keeping the multitudes of waterfalls mostly active. A small airport at the head of the fjord allows travelers to visit from Queenstown, the nearest city. By bus, it is a 7-hour drive, one way, over mountainous terrain to get there. We felt very privileged to be able to visit with such nice accommodations. There are also small sightseeing boats that will take you the length of the fjord and back. We saw several of these during our visit.

Milford Sound feels like the end of the earth. The peaks are ominous. The beauty is stark. This is definitely remote territory, unspoiled and mostly untouched by humans. Fiordland National Park is home to several threatened native animals and birds. Conservation efforts are underway to support both the Takahe and the Kakapo, both flightless birds, among others.

We enjoyed Milford for 4 hours, much of it narrated by an excellent park ranger. We enjoyed our lunch on the balcony, not wanting to miss any of the beauty. By early afternoon, we were back out to the Tasman Sea and we watched the pilot boat come and retrieve the Pilot and the Park Ranger, along with two Princess pizzas, and head back to base.

We’re now headed to Australia and will be at sea for two days.