New Zealand's Fjords Are Truly Spectacular

It is all too easy to get wrapped up in the excitement of overseas travel and forget about the beauty surrounding you in your own country.  Years ago the New Zealand tourism board had a campaign with the slogan "Don't leave town until you've seen the country", the idea was to encourage people to look around New Zealand before heading overseas.  It was, and is, good advice.  I have traveled around New Zealand extensively over the years but there is still plenty more for me to see and discover in this beautiful country of ours.

Ethereal beauty of early morning in Milford Sound

Hundreds of metres high this waterfall
looks small against towering cliffs

One of the things I was most excited about on my recent cruise around New Zealand was the opportunity to see parts of the country I had never seen before and to return to places I hadn't seen in a long while.  A day spent cruising the three magnificent fjords of Milford, Doubtful and Dusky Sounds, on the west coast of the South Island, was high on my excitement meter.  I had visited Milford Sound,  on a couple of previous occasions but had only ever seen it from the shore at the small village of Milford at the innermost point. And I had never been to Dusky Sound or Doubtful Sound so it was with  high anticipation that I was  up at the crack of dawn and out on deck in order not to miss any of the  spectacular scenery. Luckily we were blessed with a fine day, Milford Sound has annual rainfall of 6412mm and is one of the wettest places in the world. The full, informative, on board commentary, by a New Zealand park ranger which was piped around the decks throughout the sounds cruise was invaluable.

Amazing scenery in Milford Sound

Milford Sound - high peaks, snow capped mountains, tumbling waterfalls, magnificent

Milford Sound is New Zealand's most famous tourist destination.  Despite the fact that it is remote, and takes at a minimum a couple of hours to reach by road, it nevertheless receives around 1 million tourists a year.  Rudyard Kipling described it as "the 8th wonder of the world", high praise indeed, but well deserved.  Carved by glaciers during the ice age the 15 kilometre long inlet is surrounded by majestic peaks of sheer rock reaching up 1200 metres and more with the tallest, Elephant Peak, reaching up 1517 metres.  Waterfalls cascade down the cliffs, some from a height of 1000 metres. Snow capped peaks tower over the cliffs and the green, clear, dark and mysterious water. As with both Doubtful and Dusky Sounds, Milford Sound is home to seals, penguins, dolphins and whales. It is a stunningly beautiful, ancient and timeless landscape.

Doubtful Sound with a view towards one of the three arms

Doubtful Sound, at 40 kilometres long is the longest of the sounds, with three arms and a depth of 421 metres.  Captain Cook originally named it Doubtful Harbour because he was doubtful that he could successfully navigate it under sail.  In the end he decided not to but I'm pleased we were able to. 

I was in awe and wonder at nature's majesty

Finally we cruised into Dusky Sound.  At various times inhabited by Maori and Europeans and used by Captain Cook and whalers as a base, Dusky Sound contains several large islands, has prolific seal colonies and is inaccessible except by sea.  It is wild, isolated, beautiful and unchanged since Captain Cook first sailed in in 1770.

Dusky Sound

In total we cruised for 65 nautical miles through the sounds, that is equal to just over 120 kilometres.  We cruised at the gentle speed of 10 knots, equal to 18 kilometres per hour.  It was gentle and serene and there was plenty of time to take in the spectacular scenery.

Today the word "awesome" is bandied around as a fashionable expression of approval yet it is really the best word to use, in its true sense, when describing the breathtaking majesty and beauty of the New Zealand fjords.  The wonder of these soaring peaks, deep waters, cascading waterfalls  made me feel incredibly insignificant but also incredibly joyous.  This was without doubt a truly marvelous day, well worth waiting for!

Leaving Dusky Sound to continue around New Zealand