So, we were off! The calm watered mouth of the immense Milford Sound lay ahead of us as we left the small harbour area on our vessel, accompanied by a scattering of other sea-faring adventurers. Milford Sound itself is 15km in length and about 290m at its deepest point with steep, forest covered mountains on both sides. Fresh water sits atop of the saline water in all of the Sounds due to the huge amount of rain water falling into them from waterfalls and rainfall. In heavy rains, the fiord can see like one great waterfall, with the most impressive of the two, ´year round falls´being the 160m Bowen Falls which is one of the first things that you are able to see on your journey out of the harbor. These impressive falls are fed by a glacier giving them a constant supply of water. Now this fall supplies drinking water via a small pipeline and is also used to produce hydro-electricity. On this journey, you get closer to Mitre Peak and find that it is one of the highest mountains in the world to rise directly from the ocean floor. It got its name as its shape resembles that of a Bishop´s mitre, or headdress. As the clouds began to clear, with blue sky finally appearing, we were able to see the entire summit. Areas of the mountain sides running along the sides of the fiord are devoid of forest covering leaving a visible ´scar´on their sides. This areas were formed by ´tree avalanches´. On these steep cliffs, there is no soil for trees to grow their roots into, and so they use the abundant moss covering the rocks as both their water source and their stronghold instead. However, during heavy rains or high winds, trees on the upper levels may loose their grip, and subsequently force trees below them to slide in mass down the sides of the mountain, dropping into the waters of the fiord. These ´scars´can take hundreds of years to be regrown.

Half way along the fiord we were shown Fairy Falls, one of the prettiest corners of Milford Sound and is named after the visible rainbows in the falls. Despite the large amounts of water that cascades from these falls, they are only a temporary waterfall and will dry up in a few days without rain. We then passed Copper Point, so named because of the very high deposits of copper found through this area, it is also one of the narrowest sections of the fiord where wind speeds have been recorded in excess of 75 knots.

Soon, you find yourself rounding a bend and being greeted with the expanse of the Tasman Sea ahead of you. We sailed from the sheltered waters of the Sound into the Sea for a short time, where the wind picked up and the water became more choppy. After a short stint we turned around and so experienced entering the fiord through its entrance, Dale Point. Other features which were pointed out to us as we sailed were, ´The Elephant´, shaped like an elephants head standing at a height of 1507m and on the northern side of the Fiord, Lion mountain, rising to a height of 1301m, given its name as its shape strongly resembles that of a crouching lion. Stirling Falls soon comes into view cascading down the mountain side to your left dropping 155m and being the second of the two permanent falls in the Sound. With our boat being small, were were able to get close up to the falls themselves to take pictures (well, you could if you didn´t fancy both yourself and your camera getting drenched!).

Not long after our up close and personal encounter with the falls, we caught our first glimpse of a pod of Southern Bottlenose Dolphins swimming towards us, hugging the rocky sides of the fiord. What a fantastic thing to see! Larger than I expected them to be, we were able to turn the boat around and head slightly back down the Sound so that they could follow us for a while. A truly amazing sight! With smiles on our faces, the sunshine on our backs and a clear blue sky above, the Sound loomed around us as we headed back towards port, so glad that we had made the decision to explore this ´number one NZ attraction´for ourselves