After the luxury and scenic journey from Te Anau to Milford Sound, it's time for a 2 hours 30 minutes Nature cruise with Real Journeys.

I embark for a very comfortable cruise on a large vessel: the Milford Mariner.

Today is very sunny and that's a lot of luck knowing that it has been raining a lot around here a few days ago (46cm in 24h).

I got a 14NZ$ picnic box and directly go on a front deck' bench to enjoy the sun, the scenary and my lunch.

Our guide gives very detailed commentary on the geology, flora, fauna and minerals of the Milford Sound area.

Geology facts: Milford Sound was wrongly called a sound. It's a fiord. The difference is that a fiord is the result of glacier erosion and a sound is the result of river erosion.

Minerals: there are minerals indicating that there is gold around here. About 130 years ago, one Englishman tried to find some for 5 years but didn't found any. Anyway, it's now a National Park and the gold will then remain where it is. The DOC devise is take only pictures and leave only footprints!

Animals:

Now it's time to see some wild dolphins: they come to play and jump next to the boat.

And what about those cute seals?

Everything is so spectacular: we get a very close look to the highest cliff in the world, the Tasman Sea a huge waterfall (we even got under it ). My advice: Bring your fisheye for amazing pictures!