We've been in the south island for all of three days, and I've already seen more amazingly beautiful scenery than I did in three weeks in the north island (and no, I'm not trying to rub it in for you north-islanders who read this). What we did today was a good majority of it: Milford Sound. The two-hour drive to the sound was about the most scenic route I can imagine, with mountains on either side of us for almost the entire trip. We stopped at the Mirror Lakes on the way in, and the Chasm on the way out, both of which were incredibly beautiful and probably worth the trip in themselves. But anyway, I'm running out of internet time so I'll start talking about Milford now.

Milford Sound is one of the two things I was told I HAD to see when I went to the South Island, and today I found out why. It was definitely one of the most beautiful things I've seen here. We went on a cruise through the sound itself and out into the ocean beyond it just far enough to see how impossible it is to spot the entrance from the water. As we sailed back in, we saw the same sight that greeted the explorer who discovered it (I forget his name...) on accident when a strong gust of wind blew his boat into it. It must have been an amazing relief to expect your ship to crash into a wall of mountains and end up sailing into such a beautiful fjord. Yes, a fjord. Not a sound as the name implies. The difference is that fjords are created by glaciers and are a bit more narrow. Not entirely sure why they still call it a sound. Maybe next time we'll find out :)

Brandi Bowlin