Milford Sound, nestled in shear fiord walls, is deep in the heart of Fiordland National Park. This place makes you realise how strong mother nature is in its ability to carve huge U shaped gouges in the surface of the earth. Long gone are the glaciers that scorched their mark over 13000 years ago, although the tips of the peaks still hold the last of the glacial ice. The Sound itself averages 200m deep and the cliff faces loom up to 1600m above. It's so hard to describe the massiveness of these mountains of rock. The atmosphere of the surrounds is gobsmacking. Two out of three days sees rain, and not just ordinary rain. Between 7 and 8 metres of rain falls each year in these parts, with the hillside awash with nemerous waterfalls cascading down to the salty bath at the bottom. The shear volume of water means that there is an 8 metre deep freshwater layer floating on top of the tidal sea which feeds from the Tasman some 10 miles west of Milford Sound town. From Milford Track to Milford Sound time for the Routeburn Track.
