Day 27 Milford Sound

After waking up bright and early, or rather just early since none of us were feeling particularly bright, we headed down to the pick up site at 6:45 to catch our 5hour coach to Milford Sound!

We debated a lot about whether to drive there ourselves, in the end the cost, both of time and petrol… to get there outweighed the benefits of catching a coach. Plus accommodation was ridiculous. So we opted to do one of the coach-cruise-coach options which is a 12ish hour day trip… and it was an experience. I seemed to conveniently forget all about my travel sickness up until we’d been on the coach half an hour and I realized the company had not only lied about the coach having a glass roof but about the coach having a toilet on board… So all in all most of the scenery acted as a distraction while I attempted to retain some decorum…

Aside from that minor hiccup Milford Sound was as beautiful as everyone, and the guidebooks, say. It’s so popular mainly because it’s the most accessible fiord in Fiordland but regardless of that I’m sure Miter Peak would attract attention however inaccessible it was.

First stop was at one of the many ‘mirror lakes’ this one was incredibly peaceful and surprisingly, considering how dense the bush was and how close we were to the lake, there were barely and mosquitos or sandflies!

Next stop was at a mountain stream where we were encouraged to fill up our water bottles! We were only just getting into the national park and already I could see the legendary Fiordland waterfalls. After a heavy rain, or while it’s raining, entire mountain sides spring waterfalls everywhere, and even on a hot sunny day, like today, there were hundreds of beautiful falls along the way

 Again.. I don't really know what Queenstown has done to my hair.. 

 Pretty spectacular right? 

 some of the constant waterfalls which always trickle down the mountain sides - we saw much bigger ones later on!

Another icy blue stream where we could drink the freezing water 

We saw a Kia! I’ve been hoping to see one in the wild since Franz Josef when I read about them as they’re apparently really intelligent and are often mischievous with a desire for destroying car windscreen wipers! They were bigger than I’d first expected too

After 5, long but beautiful, hours we got the mini harbor where it was straight from the coach onto the ship for 2 hours.  

 Mitre Peak from the dock

 One of the massive waterfalls 

 The first lot of seals we saw just lounging around, soaking up some rays

 The fiord was originally missed on nearly all maps because when sailing around the coast it just looks like a small bay, it was only discovered when a ship was caught in a storm and sought shelter

 More sleepy seals :)

 The landscape was stunning with steep mountains rising straight out of crystal clear water 

 One of my favourite parts of Milford Sound, where a river leads back into the mountains 

 At one point the driver decided to drive the boat into the waterfall, so we got completely drenched, I got a pretty amazing photo too 

The tour was ridiculously expensive for what it actually was and it was a truly manic 12hrs with no time to spare between the 5hr coach ride, the 2hr cruise and the final 5hr coach. Needless to say everyone just fell asleep on the ride back as we were all just worn out. It was truly beautiful though and it was good to now be able to accurately compare fiords to sounds as they're often mistaken for each other. I can certainly see why it's such a popular attraction as it was stunning. 

Day 25 Lake Cruise & Bob’s Peak

Treating ourselves to going out for breakfast seems to be turning into a bit of a habit! Today’s choice was a lovely chocolate shop on the lake front where we all started the day with a full on sugar high after our incredibly decadent treat. To make the morning even better, just as we were finishing off our breakfast the weather seemed to magically clear! I ran out to the lake and booked myself a cruise for the early afternoon, and crossed my fingers that the weather would hold. I’m glad I booked early as the warmer the weather got the bigger the queue became!

I had an hour or so to kill before my cruise so I took the opportunity to walk around the bay in the sunshine.

The iconic coal burner 

looking back over Queenstown CBD 

My view while I waited for the boat to dock

The cruise was very informative as the driver seemed to know everything there was to know about the lake, including interesting facts, funny stories, lots of history, as well as countless other bits and pieces about the architecture fronting the lake and the animals which live on it, such as the fact the water is so pure it doesn't conduct electricity... The views from the lake were pretty gorgeous too.

Feeding the Trout, there's 3 different types in the lake apparently with the californian rainbow trout being the most aggressive

Voted one of the top ten most scenic golf courses in the world

The new Hilton Hotel

 The famous bridge - there's a whole story surrounding these gates involving two men basically single handedly flooding Queenstown while they went on holiday!

On the left is the expensive section of Queenstown where most houses cost a few million while on the right is the 'dark side' of Queenstown as it goes 3 months without any sun because of the mountains

As soon as I stepped off the boat Axel rang me asking what I was up to as he had given up trying to find the music shop he had been searching for. We opted to go up the gondolas to the top of Bob’s Peak. I’d really wanted to walk it but people had warned us not to do it right after a heavy rain as the path can be treacherous so we just paid to have the cable car ride to the top. The views were stunning!

Once we got to the top and walked around a little bit we went to sit down to soak up the views some more when we found a rather muddy and exhausted Cara and George – they’d braved the walk and looked rather worse for wear for it! So we shared some chips and a drink and spent the rest of the day admiring the views and exploring the lake in the sunshine, finished off with us all stopping off at Fergburger again!

P.S it’s so weird seeing ‘seasons greeting’ and ‘merry Christmas’ lights in windows when it’s 30 degrees and the sun is blazing down… just strange!