Milford Sound rightfully holds the reputation as one of the most beautiful places on Earth. A fjord in New Zealand’s Southern Alps it is located only 3000-miles from the South Pole. It had snowed earlier in the week and was still cold and stormy which was having an effect on flight operations into Milford. Checking in with Air Milford we were told all flights were on hold and if we could go the next day it would be an E-ticket ride.
We awoke early and headed for the airport to find that Milford was still closed, but we could get within about 50-miles from there and have a small van meet us to drive us the rest of the way in. Of course we’d have to land on a grass strip that only they knew about, where the pilot would wait for us to return. The flight out was very rough and Alex our pilot, flew along with the wingtip close to the mountainside to keep in smoother air. I volunteered to fly right-hand seat and had a spectacular view that allowed me to capture these in-flight pictures.
Once we landed we had a friendly driver who was eager to share stories about the local history and identify all the flora and fauna we passed. Actually having mid-October weather forcing us to do the fly-drive route was perfect as the last 50-miles going into Milford is the most spectacular scenery Susan and I have ever seen. Once we got to Milford we boarded a boat and ran out through the sound to the Tasman Sea. Partial fog obscured what are usually fantastic views of this awesome fjord, but the rains gave the waterfalls plentiful flows, a fair trade-off for sure. A wonderful trip we both would like to do again soon.
All images were taken with Nikon D750 w/ Nikon AF 28-105mm f/1:3.5-4.5D in RAW format processed in Adobe Lightroom 5.7.
Nice Kevin. Another great set of pics.