On Tuesday Feb 10 the rain let up and we awoke to a gorgeous day in Queenstown. Though there were a few more items in Q-town we wanted to check out (like luging down the hill!), we wanted to take advantage of the weather and head up to Milford for an afternoon cruise (which was highly recommended by everyone we asked about it).
Milford Sound is actually incorrectly named, for it is not actually a sound but a fiord. A sound is usually a delta of a river that gradually gets deeper as it approaches the sea. A fiord on the other hand is caused by a glacier and is characterized by being deep inland, then having a relatively shallow 'shelf' before joining the sea. In Milford's case, the sound is approximately 1000 feet deep -- the first 30 feet of which is fresh water that is brown which sits atop of of sea water (I think this is due to salt water being heavier than fresh water). Where the 'sound' meets the sea, the depth quickly reduces to just 120 feet -- this is due to the glacial silt and rubble being pushed out to the opening of the fiord.
Though we heard that its just as amazing when it rains, since rain causes nearly 1000 waterfalls to appear, we were happy with the wonderful sun, and to be able to capture some great pictures. I'll let the photographs tell the rest of the story:
Syd.
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