Voyager of the Seas takes us to Milford Sound

David Batzofin

December 26, 2013

2070

To see all the postings from our trip,
http://www.davidbatzofin.com/search/label/Voyager%20of%20the%20Seas

By the time we arrived in Milford Sound, Sydney was a distant memory.

Many meals had been enjoyed…

And for a brief time the guest relations desk was empty.

A coffee before braving the cold and the rain as we arrived at Milford Sound.

Even the crew were taking pictures!

The Pilot board arrives to get John Henderson on board.

And there it is…

Milford Sound was initially overlooked by European explorers, because its narrow entry did not appear to lead into such large interior bays. Sailing ship captains such as James Cook, who bypassed Milford Sound on his journeys for just this reason, also feared venturing too close to the steep mountainsides, afraid that wind conditions would prevent escape

Food is already on deck so that passengers can enjoy a meal and the view!

The sides rise as high as a 40 storey building…
Very difficult to try to show this in an image.

The fjord remained undiscovered by Europeans until Captain John Grono discovered it c.1812 and named it Milford Haven after his homeland in Wales.

Captain John Lort Stokes later renamed Milford Haven as Milford Sound.

While Fiordland as such remained one of the least-explored areas of New Zealand up to the 20th century,
Milford Sound’s natural beauty soon attracted national and international renown.
The discovery of the Mackinnon Pass in 1888 became a part of the new Milford Track,
an early walking tourism trail.
Guests from passenger ships can disembark here, walk the trail and re-board the ship in Dunedin.
About 30 of our passengers did that.

Milford Sound runs 15 kilometers inland from the Tasman Sea at Dale Point (also named after a location close to Milford Haven in Wales) – the mouth of the fiord – and is surrounded by sheer rock faces that rise 1,200 metres (3,900 ft) or more on either side.

The beauty of this landscape draws thousands of visitors each day, with between 550,000 and 1 million visitors in total per year.

This makes the sound one of New Zealand’s most-visited tourist spots, and also the most famous New Zealand tourist destination.

One of the many waterfalls

Snow on the peaks

This is one of the two permanent waterfall near the town of Milford (pop. 120)
Lady Bowden and Stirling Falls.

Thanks to recent rains there were several waterfalls.

It was extremely misty during our visit.
But it did lift enough for us to experience the stunning beauty of Milford Sound

This group of kayakers look like toys.

Time to say goodbye and head off to Doubtful and Dusky Sounds.
All the factual information on this posting is from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milford_Sound