So after seeing Douftful sound in style, we looked for the cheapest option to go and see Milford Sound. Which was a coach and crusie option. We got picked up by our friendly driver in Te Anau and loaded up onto a small bus which was full of Chinese people - we think they were as shocked as we were at being the only westerners on the bus, apart from the driver!!! First stop was the Te Anau Wildlife Centre where we saw the Takahe bird, which is one of New Zealands rarest. Then off onto the Milford road which is 120km, of constantly changing scenery as you get further into the Fiordland park. We endured extensive stories from our happy bus driver about her growing up, all told in a wonderful monotone!!! How exciting. Our next stop was at a large valley where the scenery starts as a tussock clad field then gradually rolls into the rocky mountains in the distance. A stunning place to stop and see the sheer scale of the local area. This is also apparently where a lot of 4 wheel drive adverts are filmed. Then all back on the bus to keep going further in. A road-side stop took us into the mirror lakes, so called because the water sits so still that you get a perfect reflection of the surrounding mountains. Very impressive even with the breeze. Away again and up a long hill to the Homer tunnel. The homer tunnel took 18 years to dig and was dug predominently by hand which is an amazing feat as the rock is extremely hard. The tunnel has no lights inside and only has one direction of traffic at a time which is contolled by traffic lights on either end at 15 minute intervals. Upon exiting the tunnel the scenery completely changes again, gone are the greens of the forest and scrubbery replaced by the hard rocky valleys. Final stop before milford sound itself was a 15 minute walk to a place called Chasm Walk which is a 22m water drop through eroded boulders. Which you walk over the top of and look straight down onto. Back onto the bus for the final leg into Milford Sound. As you turn the last corner you see what you have just spent 2 hours heading towards-the sight of Mitre Peak which is right in the center of the sound itself. Milford Sound is a valley carved out by a glacier the same as Doubtful, the main difference between the two are that Milford is vertical and rock faced. Milford sound is 300m deep which means it's deep enough to take cruise ships inside, which it does in the summer. Unfortunately we didn't have the rain this time so whilst it is stunning to see the tops of the valleys and the sheer size of the fiord, you don't get the 100's of waterfalls cascading down the rock faces.

Milford Sound Part2

Due to mistake on behalf of our tour company, we managed to get another go for free!!! But this time we chose to drive ourselves in, so that we could stop where we wanted to. Driving was definitely better than sitting on the coach. The reason we got another free go was because we were meant to go to the underwater observatory, but weren't able to because we were on the last boat of the day. After driving ourselves in with a few different stops along the way we got on the boat again, luckily this time it was raining. So we got the waterfalls plus there was snow on top of the fiord as well!! On our way round the fiord we were graced by the presence of the local pod of bottlenose dolphins, who were carrying a calf with them. After watching the dolphins for a while we taken to the Underwater observatory. The unique thing about the fiords is that there is fresh water sitting on top of the salt water. Where the rain water has come down the valley it picks up tannings and darkens. So when it sits on top of the salt water it blocks sunlight making the water appear darker than it is. Which in turn allows plants to grow at 10m deep when usually they would only grow 40m+ The main attraction of this is white coral only known to grow at such depths and therefore very little is known about it, except here where it is "tricked" and easily viewed and studied. Along with all the local fish who come and have a look at you through the glass, whilst you look back at them. All very bizarre considering you're not diving!!!