Day Trip to Milford Sound

Hi Blog! During our stay in Queenstown, we really wanted to visit Milford Sound. It is about a four hour drive, so we decided to take a bus tour. We did a little internet research and decided to go with Kiwi Discovery. On Wednesday, November 18, 2015, we woke up early in order to have breakfast before meeting the bus at 6:30 a.m. Here we are bundled up against the cold. The bus heater was not working! I guess we should have done better research!

The chill didn't diminish our excitement as we left Queenstown, traveled down Lake Wakatipu, over to Te Anau and then up into Fiordland National Park. We were soon surrounded by the towering peaks of the Southern Alps. The bus made a couple photo stops and Dave had to hold Kathy back from running out into the alpine meadows singing "The Hills Are Alive....."

Milford Sound is considered one of New Zealand's top tourist destinations. We expected it to be a little "touristy." What we found was a quiet little harbour surrounded by incredible scenic beauty. The Kiwi Discovery tour boat is smaller than the others, but it is faster. It's lower draft allows the captain to maneuver the boat right into the waterfalls. By now our feet had thawed and we were feeling better about choosing to travel with Kiwi Discovery. In the background is the distinctive shape of Mitre Peak, named after the mitre headwear of Christian bishops.

As we pulled away from the harbor, we began to see a number of the famous waterfalls. Named after the wife of Sir George Bowen, one of New Zealand's early governors, Lady Bowen Falls is one of only two permanent waterfalls dropping 160 meters from a high valley in the Darren Mountain Range.

Most of the walls of Milford Sound are vertical. Seal Rock is a haven for the New Zealand Fur Seal. These seals inhabit Milford Sound all year round. Hunted almost to extinction in the early 1800's when their fur was sought after by the fashion industry. The seals have made a great comeback. However, they are totally uninterested in posing for tourist photos.

As we approached Fairy Falls we watched the water fall directly into the fiord. The captain brought the boat right under the falls.

The mist created by the falling water made a great rainbow.

Just past the falls, our captain found some penguins hopping over some rocks. They are hard to see as they blend in, so we added a couple red arrows to point them out.

"For thousands of feet upwards the eye looks upon straight cut rocky frontages, not worn smooth by time, or by wind or water, but as sharply defined and as fresh looking in all respects as if riven asunder but yesterday by the stupendous wedges of Titanic Masons." James Hingston 1883. Not sure we could have described it any better. If you look closely that red dot in the center of the photo is a really big boat!

As we leave the fiord, it is easy to see why many of the early explorers just passed by the entrance. From our vantage point in the Tasman Sea, it looks like a dead end.

On the way out to the Tasman Sea, we traveled up the left side of the fiord. We returned by hugging the opposite side. We saw several more waterfalls and secret coves. If you would like to see more pictures from Milford Sound, click on the link to our Flickr Album. The bus trip back to Queenstown was much warmer. We never tired of looking at the amazing countryside.

If you get a chance to visit New Zealand, make sure you put Milford Sound on your list of must sees. After spending the whole day traveling, we looked forward to a good walk the next day. Stay tuned.