There and Back Again: A Study Abroad Tale: Milford Sound and the Fiordlands

This past week some friends and I made a last hoorah of our study abroad with a quick trip around the South Island compacted into about 4 days. After rushing out of my last zoology lab for the semester (thank god!) and turning in my final project for intro to conversational Maori, it was time to pack up the car and head to Milford Sound at about 4 pm on Wednesday (6/1) afternoon.

It was about a 4 hour drive to Milford Sound from Dunedin, but totally worth it! We were most of the way to the actual sound before we stopped to "freedom camp", which is a fancy way of saying we slept in the car. This made for a VERY cold night. We all woke up early the next morning to make it to our cruise boat tour, and watch the sunrise over the snowy peaks on the way. While waiting in the parking lot of the i-site, we met some interesting New Zealand wildlife! A kea flew over to our car, and was following me around as I took pictures of the area, and then a weka walked out of the bush to our car! Keas are endemic parrots of New Zealand, and are the world's only alpine parrot. They are currently listed as at risk and are put under protection of the Department of Conservation. The weka is a flightless bird endemic to New Zealand, and were once a foodsource for early Maori and European settlers.

Watching the sunrise on the way to Milford Sound

The curious kea

The mountains reflecting in the sound

The weka coming to check out our car

At 9:45 am we started our cruise tour of Milford Sound out to the Tasman Sea. We ran into some really great weather while on the boat, NO RAIN! Rain is measured in meters in Milford Sound and the Fiordlands as they are typically a very rainy climate. It was freezing cold, but at least it wasn't freezing cold and rainy! Milford Sound was carved by the movement of glaciers, and is fed by the melting of snow and ice, as well as all the rainfall and influx from the Tasman Sea. There are a couple of waterfalls present at all times in the sound, but when it's raining thousands of falls can be seen off of the sides of the rocks! Although it is labeled as a sound, it is technically a fiord as it was formed by the erosive effects of glaciers. At the sound you can see wildlife such as sea lions, the rare Fiordland crested penguins, the Little Blue penguins, and a variety of dolphins. Unfortunately, I didn't see any penguins on my tour (dang it!) but it wasn't without some wildlife.

The first waterfall of our cruise

Looking out to the sound. There is a 10 meter layer of freshwater on top of the salt water

Me embracing the cold of Milford Sound

A couple of juvenile male sea lions

Stirling Falls

Enjoying my winter cruise!

After concluding our tour in Milford, we drove over to Queenstown and made a few stops along the way. Our first stop was at The Chasm, which is part of the Fiordland National Park. Here, thousands of years of moving water have shaped basins and falls in the rock, while being surrounded by temperate rain forest, like much of the Fiordlands. Our next stop was the Mirror Lakes. Here the water is so still that the mountains in the horizon next to it are reflected off of the water. Its a spectacular view!