We had a very stormy, rainy night last night and found out today there was quite a thunder storm, which we slept through. The weather cleared up a little and there were moments of sunshine, some rain, but the morning was mostly overcast. We were booked on a cruise and kayak tour for the morning.

The Pride of Milford cast off at 9am and we had a yummy cooked breakfast as we started our cruise around the fiord. Having had a decent rain overnight worked to our advantage as there were lots of waterfalls which only appear if it has rained. There are only two permanent waterfalls in the fiord, but dozens of transient ones dependent on the amount of rain. Our skipper took us around the fiord, showing us two areas where seals were basking and playing, multiple waterfalls and sheer, majestic mountains rising out of the water.

We hopped off the boat at the Milford Discovery Centre for our kayak and a look around the Centre. First up was the kayak tour and we had a lovely tour guide called Emily. We were kitted out in wet weather gear and flotation vests. The kayaks were on a special lift which meant we didn’t even need to get our feet wet and the kayaks were sit-in not sit on, so the only bit of us to get wet was where the water ran down our arms from the paddles.    

The tour was a gentle kayak around Harrison Cove. This is the only area in the fiord that doesn’t have a sheer cliff so there was actually the capacity for Maori and European settlers to land here and set up camp. We didn’t go ashore, but paddled around the area, checking out the saturated, moss covered stones, the oyster catchers and ducks, and getting up close to some waterfalls. We managed not to capsize which was good, as if we had, it would have meant the end of our paddle and back to get dry and warm as the water was icy enough to risk hypothermia.

Back to the Discovery Centre, where they some informative displays and have an underwater observatory. We climbed down 60 steps to 10 metres under the surface. An amazing opportunity to “be in the aquarium” and see the fish, coral, shell fish, star fish and anemones. The types of sea life are usually found at a lower level in the open sea, but thrive higher in the fiord as there is much less movement and less light, higher up due to the darker, freshwater layer that comes down with the rain from the forest. As you climb up or down you can look through a window and see a clear definition between the upper freshwater layer (2.5m today but up to 5m) at 9 degrees, and the lower seawater layer which is 14 degrees.

We had an amazing morning in Milford Sound but were happy to get away from the sand flies. We stopped and had a quick walk to check out “The Chasm” where the movement of the Cleddae River and the rocks it has brought down have carved out bowl shapes and a chasm. We stopped again after the Homer Tunnel to check out some ice which was lying a short way off the road.   We decided this was actually snow, still not melted at this height and Liam was delighted to play with it as his first time seeing snow to touch.

We are now settled in to our accommodation in Manapouri and glad to be back in the lap of luxury with comfortable beds, and our own space. We have a lovely view over the lake, which has 33 islands in it. We shall hopefully get to see some up close tomorrow when we go across the lake to get to Doubtful Sound. There will be another delayed blog as I assume we will not have internet access on our overnight cruise on Doubtful Sound, just as we didn’t have any in Milford Sound.