A Day at Milford Sound

One of the must things to do whilst in Fiordland is to visit one of the famed Fiords which make up the west coast of Southland.
There are many Fiords however two are renowned to be the most spectacular and trips are offered to explore these untouched natural wonders. For unknown reasons to me they are named sounds, and we are to spend our day at Milford Sound.

With tickets booked we wake early and embark on a 2 hour drive to Milford, along the way driving through rainforest, mountains and farmland, the scenery here is spectacular, it is around 25 degrees C with the sun shining on the glistening snow capped mountains in the distance and herds of red deer grazing the lush grassland. The route to Milford is one that can be treacherous, the road often being closed due to landslides, on route the only way in or out to Milford is via a half mile tunnel which delves deep through the middle of the mountain, on reaching the light on the other side you are confronted with snow capped mountains which feel within touching distance and a steep meandering road down into the valley and village of Milford.

We arrived with minutes to spare and boarded the nature ferry.

Its difficult to describe Milford Sound with words as the breathtaking scenery can leave one speechless, the vast mountains towering from the deep blue ocean on all sides with vivid green rainforest clinging to the cliff side, dolphins, and seals using the sound as a play area and mesmerising waterfalls seem to be falling from the sky!
As we entered the mouth of the Sound where it meets the Tasmanian sea I caught a glimpse of something in the water in the distance. I mentioned it to Alastair and Christina who said it would probably be dolphins, we made our way to the front of the boat to get a better view. No-one had noticed it yet, we waited to catch another glimpse to see what it was. Again another fin came from the the water, but too big to be a dolphin, whale we thought? But what kind?
Then another, this time 3 jet black dorsal fins! Not sure what whales are black we kept on looking, others had spotted them now and the front of the ferry started filling up and the captain had noticed something as the sound of the engines grew louder we accelerated in that direction. With a good 5 minutes between sights these were definitely whales, but still not sure what kind the bow was full of people asking each other in all languages.
Then all three came out of the water much closer this time and the ferry seemed to gasp, everyone could see clear as day that they were Orcha's!! I must admit they have always been on my bucket list to see in the wild and it seems everyone else's as well. A mother and two calves coming up for air every few minutes. We starred  in awe armed with cameras to try and get the next shot when they came up again, another ferry had heard on the radio and came around us to get a view. The Orcha's seemed to have had enough and started to head on their way.
Back we head back into the majestic sound, past seals rock, got a soaking from one of the falls and into dock. A truly remarkable day and so lucky to see wild killer whales!!

We stopped for a sandwich and coffee at the local cafe, went through our shots on the cameras to see who had the best photography skills and headed home at only 1:00pm we still had lots to see. We decided to stop at lots of little tracks coming off the road to explore a little of the area and with rods in the car may even to a spot of fishing (for a change).

The landscape is beautiful and every river was turquoise blue water broken with splashing whitewater from the rapids. After around four stops we crossed a bridge where to the right there was a beautiful water fall beneath it a vivid blue lagoon, I turned to Al, "we have to swim in there!"

"looks quite cold" was the reply I got, after a little persuasion we were in, jumping from the rocks into this almost blue pool! Great fun, and yes it was cold! We soon realised that the source of the water was actually snow and ice melt from the mountains which gave you that head freeze that you sometimes get from eating ice cream to quickly! After about 30 minutes and lots of passers by laughing at us we decided that it would probably be best to get out before hypothermia sets in and we headed back to the car.

Another half hour driving and we reached the Eglington river, Al had fished here before with some success so we parked, set up and stalked the river. The Eglington runs down the valley covered in beautiful flowers, what look like fox gloves, with a backdrop of snowy mountains really is a special place. The strong north wind which blows straight into your face whilst trying to cast isn't quite as pretty though!!

We approached a pool where we could see some trout feeding in between the gusts which made visibility poor. Al's turn to fish so armed with his G-Loomis 10' 7# which packs a good punch in these windy conditions he ties on two nymphs, a mayfly bomb trailing a smaller PTN. He targeted one fish which seemed to be actively feeding and cast upstream to it, the first cast was slightly to the right which drifted straight past, again I said a little to the left. Second cast bang on! As the indicator and flies drifted down we saw the fish drift out and the indicator disappear with a jerk. He strikes and makes contact, the fish darts upstream before leaping out of the water and heading back down stream.
"A rainbow I said" having seen the flash of silver as it left the water"

"No, the browns here look silver..." was the reply I got.
It continued to fight well but no match for Al and we soon netted it.
A beauty, around 4lb silver looking brown trout from one of the most picturesque places I have ever had the privilege fishing. We fished on for maybe 20 minutes until returning to the car as Christina was patiently waiting for us and headed home.

Great end to a great day!!!