NZ Day 2: Queenstown to Milford Sound

We would not have believed that a seven-hour coach-ride could be so amazing, and that was just the day’s warmup!

We slept very well in those comfy beds and found a hearty breakfast at the Copthorne Hotel where we were getting picked up by the coach for Milford. The level of uncertainty about the pickup increases when they haven’t arrived at five minutes past the specified time, and the coach’s arrival interrupts our musings about what we’d do if they didn’t show up. It was a full size coach with about thirty people, so plenty of space. Our driver Peanut gave great commentary as we headed out of Queenstown and passed by The Remarkable Mountains, and he told us about the geology and how Peter Jackson used them with Gandalf.

The scenery continually changed, with the mountains changing to a verdant valley full of sheep, cows, and fenced-in deer. We whizzed past them all preventing photos, but hopefully we will get luckier next time. We saw one group of maybe 1000 sheep being driven down a road by a four wheeler and a couple of sheep dogs. We thought we had experienced sheep in the Lake District, but this is at another scale.

We reached Lake Te Anau and the beautiful cloudy mountain scenery.

We stopped for lunch in the fine small town of Te Anau, and enjoyed meat pies while admiring local roses and learning about the recovery of the once-though-extinct Takahe bird.

The water taxi that takes you to some amazing hikes caught my eye, which Bailey and Samuel enjoyed mocking, but revenge will be sweet!

The terrain changed again with the valley opening up into miles of grassland.

We then started the gradual climb into the Southern Alps, with waterfalls cascading town the near vertical mountains on either side as we followed the mountain stream. At the top is a one-mile tunnel bored through the granite, which they have recently made one way, but kindly let you know how long you’ll wait.

On the other side of the tunnel, the landscape changes abruptly to rainforest as we descend towards one of the wettest places on the planet. There are many great hiking trails by the lakes.

The kea is a very intelligent bird, knowing how to slow down cars in the above mentioned tunnel:

But don’t feed them!

Having left Queenstown just before 9am, we reach the boat just before 4pm. After the exhilarating coach ride, the first sights of Milford Sound do not disappoint.

We sail several miles toward the sea, including close to a large waterfall.

I get the chance to return Bailey’s earlier complement.

The boat grabs a mooring buoy in a quiet bay and we go on a tour with a wildlife biologist in a tender, going right up to the edges of the fjord. I could post so many photos, yet all of them fail to capture the majesty of this wondrous place. I’m sure I share too many below.

After the trip in the small boat, Samuel and I go for a swim!

The swim was perfect for building the appetite, and we were treated to a variety of canapés before the main dishes followed by desert.

The evening concluded with our biologist giving us a slide show of pictures and videos. The local penguins are a rare breed. The local university placed trackers on them and were amazed at the 1000s of miles they swam. They named the ones they tracked, and one was called Motley! They also showed a video of a very clumsy penguin doing a belly flop…

And that rounded off an amazing second day. With no cell signal and no WIFI on the boat, this post has to be posted once we are unfortunately back in civilization, but I hope you find that the read was worth the delay! We were in two separate cabins so looked forward to enjoying the extra space and bathroom!

This page is part of our New Zealand trip set of posts.