MILFORD SOUND

It is said that when you tell people you are going to, or have gone to NZ, the most asked question is: "Did you go to Milford Sound?". I am not sure if this is because it is a long, as in looooong, road trip, or because it is usually wet, sand fly ridden, or breathtakingly beautiful...but, we went!
As we got up early and wandered to our breakfast spot, it had been raining all night, and was still dark and drizzly, nothing new to we travelers from the NW. Our ever optimistic driver, Pete, made light of the situation and said it would probably clear by our boat trip on Milford Sound, which is NOT a sound, but a true fjord. We drove through a countryside very much like the NW on a rainy afternoon, so we felt right at home. The landscape then gave way to enormous rock walls with waterfalls EVERYWHERE. Linda can attest to this, because we think she took pictures of each one! The thing about Milford in the rain, is to witness these hundreds of falls everywhere we looked. When it stops raining, they dry up in a matter of hours. Even in the fjords, there are only a couple of true permanent falls, so we were able to witness this beauty.
We boarded our boat and found it almost empty. The hoards of Asian travelers we saw being bussed to Milford were on other boats! Score!
While eating a yummy lunch time buffet, we toured the Milford Fjord with informational commentary from our captain. In fact, Steve, found himself in the wheelhouse with said captain, enjoying "off the cuff" nautical talk.
A few times, the captain was able to edge this big boat almost under a couple waterfalls because of the torrential amount of water cascading this day. Bruce and Steve put on their rain gear and went to the outside bow and got soaked. Steve must have loved it the first time, cause he did it again. We did make it out to the Tasman Sea for a bit of a cruise before we had to turn around and head back.