Monumental Milford Sound
The giant cascade of water thunders down the sheer flanks of the curved trunk of The Elephant, one of the most distinctive peaks on the incredible skyline of Milford Sound. The torrent of water swamps the foredeck as the catamaran glides directly under Stirling Falls. The great cascade plunges violently down a broad slot in a fortress-like wall. Squeals of delight and peals of laughter ring out from under the blanket of wind-blown spray that swirls in eddies over passengers huddling in the bow. I strain my neck to see the fall springing clear of an escarpment at a giddy height.
Cruise commentator, Jessie, who is warm and dry on the bridge, broadcasts her belief that the pure, glacial water is reputed to ‘make you wake up tomorrow morning looking and feeling ten years younger’.
Fairy Falls across the sound has a similar magnetic attraction and the skipper inches the vessel up to the granite face of Mitre Peak, a 1,683m pyramidal monolith that is reminiscent of a bishop’s headwear. The photogenic peak is Milford’s A-list celebrity attraction.
Whalers and sealers named the Fairy Falls after indulging in a few rums. They undoubtedly saw rainbow patterns in the misty spray but were convinced they had discovered a fairy grotto. Today gossamer-thin strands of water are plunging over the lip of some fearful abyss 1,000m over our heads and dissipating into a fine mist over the bow.
This temporary fall is responding to a recent rainfall event. Milford experiences up to eight metres a year spread over 200 days. During torrential rain all the taps of nature are turned on and a thousand waterfalls plummet down the cliffs in a continuous curtain wall of water.
Our two-hour nature cruise left from Milford Wharf at 1.30pm. Within five minutes we confront the greatest waterfall of them all. Bowen Falls thunders down into a tiny bay enclosed by boulder banks and enveloped in spray. At 165m, it’s the highest permanent cascade in the sound.