Milford Sound
Below are pictures taken on our Christmas Eve coach trip to Milford
Sound, located in Fiordland National Park on the west coast of the
South Island of New Zealand. Although the weather in Queenstown was
beautiful, once we got on the western coast, all we had was a cool
rain (and I thought it was summer in the southern hemisphere). Our
coach driver said that if it hadn't been raining, we wouldn't have
been able to view all of the beautiful waterfalls because they dry up
in a very short time after the rain stops.
On our way to Milford Sound, we had several opportunities to take
photographs including one of the kea. The kea is a very destructive
bird that can peck the rubber seals out of car doors or destroy
motorcycle seats if the vehicles are left out in the open overnight.
The keas that we saw put up with us quite well.
To cross the divide to get to Milford Sound, we had to go through
the Homer Tunnel. Before the tunnel was built, people had no way to
get to the western side of the mountains except on foot. The tunnel
is very narrow and coaches must use caution going through it.
We took a boat trip through the sound on a
Red Boat Cruise.
This cruise, which lasted an hour and a half, took us all the way to
the Tasman Sea, the sea dividing New Zealand and Australia. It was
raining really hard so many of my pictures are through the boat
windows. The waterfalls were really beautiful but it was extremely
choppy as we turned around at the end of the sound where it meets the
sea.
Below is magnificent scenery of Milford Sound.
Return to "A Holiday to Remember".