Day 12: Road to Milford Sond

Along our journey to Milford Sound, we stopped along the way to see glacial vallies. Unlike the North Island, the South Island has been formed and carved by glacials. The vallies are u-shaped with steep sides. In the valley, there is alluvium made up of sand and gravel. Along the river, there are Russell lupins. These plants are considered legumes, which means that they are able to fix Nitrogen and can grow in poor soil. The sight of these plants and the smell of them is beautiful however because they are growing along the riverbank, the black stilt bird, which uses the sandy bank for their natural habitat is being pushed out of its natural habitat.

Along the way, we saw tons of evidence of plate collisions recorded in the twisted strata. Moraines, deposits of till left by the glaciers, were also seen. Several terminal and lateral moraines were seen as we continued to Milford Sound. Scree fields and Talus cones are more evidence of glacial debris.

As we were waiting to pass through on of the mountains, via a one lane road, we saw the Kea. The kea is a parrot like bird that is completely flightless. Due to settlers and the introduction of dogs, a lot of the flightless birds originally found on NZ were wipped out.

Once at Milford Sound, we boarded the Red Boat to cruise around the sound. Here we saw many waterfalls coming off the cliffs of the fjiord, saw the fur seals sunning on Seal Rock, and the Tasmin Sea.

After enjoying the cruise through the fjiord, we stopped by a chasm to see how the power of water can alter and shape the topography.