Traveling by bus from Queenstown to Milford Sound and back again made for a long day! Not having our own transportation , we went with a day tour. If you’re from a coastal rainforest area, Milford Sound might not be very impressive to you. I found it worth the visit. There were plenty of stops along the way that broke up the trip nicely.
Milford Sound, in Fjordland National Park, is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This unique area receives more than 6.5m of rain annually. (That’s about 21 feet of rain a year for all of you non-metric folks–more than three times your height unless you play for the NBA!) Such high rainfall creates a layer of fresh water over the salt water sound. Stained by tannins washed down from the forest, the fresh water layer restricts light to all but the top 40m. This creates a rare opportunity for deep water eco-systems to be much closer to the surface than normal. Milford Sound is a popular area for SCUBA for this reason.
Though Milford Sound receives up to 180 days of rain annually, we had a beautiful sunny day for a cruise on the water.
Happy Travels,
~j