We left Sydney once again on November 2nd for our 13 day cruise to New Zealand. The first two days were at sea. On the morning of November 5th, I woke up around 6 am and looked out the patio door. The most surreal and amazing views were all around us. It was a bit cloudy which made it look somewhat eerie. We had arrived at Milford Sound in Fiordland National Park!
Fiordland National Park is on the southern tip of the South island of New Zealand. It is one of the wettest places on the planet with about 182 days of rain and fog per year. As we were in the southern hemisphere, the further south you were, the colder it was. Temperatures on this day were in the 30s with a cold wind straight from Antarctica.
I had read many reports from others who had traveled here that it was very foggy, and they couldn't see much at all. We were so fortunate to have good weather. As the day progressed, the sun came out, and we had near perfect conditions to travel through the park.
Our ship did a 360 degree turn in Milford Sound so everyone could get a great view. A smaller ship came alongside and a park ranger/naturalist came on board to teach us all about the park as we travelled along.
Here is one of the waterfalls in Milford Sound. Milford Sound is often described as the eighth wonder of the world.
This was a great day to have a balcony room. The bridge cam was on our TV all day, and we could hear everything that the naturalist was saying while watching the amazing scenery either on the balcony or looking out the patio door. As I said, it was quite cold, so we were glad we didn't have to spend the entire day outside.
We learned a lot of facts from the naturalist.
In New Zealand it is spelled fiord; in Norway it is spelled fjord.
A fiord is created from glaciers. A sound is a river valley that has been flooded with sea water.
The park was founded in 1952, and covers 3.1 million acres and is 5% of New Zealand's land area.
Fiordland National Park contains mountains, 14 fiords, marine reserves, rugged coastline, temperate rain forests, alpine areas, freshwater lakes and varied wildlife.
It took the entire day to sail through the park. Two other sounds we traveled through were Doubtful and Dusky Sounds. Captain Cook and his crew were the first Europeans to visit Fiordland in 1773, and spent five weeks in Dusky Sound. Cook named it Doubtful Sound because he doubted they could sail into it.
Each area was a little different; some with mountains, others with very green hills, and lots of waterfalls and islands. Here are some of the many pictures I took.
And, here are some of the waterfalls we saw.
As we came out of the last fiord back into open waters, we passed the Five Fingers Peninsula.
This was truly another spectacular day with the most amazing scenery we've ever seen. Our planet has so much beauty. We are so grateful to have seen just a small fraction of it!!
Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!
