Milford Sound : New Zealand’s must see fjord

After a great night by the Wakatipu lake, we hit the road to Milford Sound. Milford Sound is the most visited site in New Zealand. This fjord is a UNESCO world heritage site, and supposedly one of the prettiest fjord in the world. So off we go!

The landscape is once again stunning, on the way to Queenstown. We stop a few times to take pictures.

The colors of the sky during early morning are amazing.

In Queenstown, we stop to take a shower in the middle of the industrial zone. The city just started offering free showers, toilets and even Wi-Fi for people traveling in a van like us. Awesome initiative! And we are glad to have been able to take advantage of it. Right next by we stop at the supermarket where we find a power outlet near the entrance where Maider can charge the battery of her camera.

After all that we finally head down to Milford Sound. We continue driving along the lake Wakatipu (yes it is a pretty huge lake) and we stop from time to time to admire the landscape. This region is gorgeous, we wish we could have stayed longer !

We stop for lunch in Te Anau and here also the landscape is stunning. We try to take pictures on the way. It’s hard not to be able to stop whenever we can, unfortunately we have a lot of miles to do  today…

In Te Anau, we ask about the track conditions of some of the hikes we planned on doing. And learned that the main hike we wanted to do is still closed because of the snow. And it is only possible to do starting in January without mountaineering gear. Too bad… From Te Anau we are only 62 miles from Milford Sound, and initially we wanted to do the cruise the following day after the hike. So yet again. We change our plans (like everyday since we have been in NZ) and decide to catch one of the afternoon cruises today. It is still only noon when we are in Te Anau, so that gives us plenty of time to get on the 3 pm cruise. The weather is absolutely beautiful, and apparently the afternoon cruises are a lot less popular, most bus tours hitting the morning tours or the one at 1 pm. There are even buses that do the return drive from and to Queenstown in the same day! In Milford Sound there is absolutely nothing, the closest hotels are in Te Anau, and after that you need to stay in Queenstown. But there are plenty of campsite along the way, so we don’t have to worry about all that!

Around noon we head on the famous Milford Road, known for being one of the most beautiful roads in the world. And we have to agree. The way to Milford Sound is breathtaking. We don’t really have the time to stop at every single view point, but we know we will definitely stop on the way back. And while Maider is driving, Matt is trying his best to take pictures of the landscape. The mountains around are incredible. We also drive through a huge magnificent valley. We are shocked by the beauty of the place. We didn’t expect it to be so beautiful from the start.

We arrive in Milford Sound at 2:30 pm, and all there is is three huge parking lots and the ferry terminal. The view from the terminal is really pretty. We can see the beginning of the fjord from here.

There are several different cruise companies, that have different boat sizes. Some going up to 250 people, and others way smaller with up to 50 passengers. And of course we went with the smaller boat. And we even had a 60% discount, thanks to the BookMe app that offers discounts on tons of activities in New Zealand. We embark on a small boat with only 30 other people.

The sky is still clear blue and we realize how lucky we are. Then starts the 2 hour cruise on the fjord.

Thankfully we had time to charge Maider’s camera, because she is taking pictures after pictures. She’s unstoppable. To her credit the landscape is amazing.

The fjord is huge, we feel tiny in our little boat next to it.

First we sail along one side of the fjord during an hour, before sailing back along the other side.

The color of the water is superb in areas.

We stop to look at a few waterfalls.

Some are really impressive. The boat driver tells us to come back when it’s raining because these are even more impressive. All the water from the mountains fill up these waterfalls and they become massive. We will stick with the sun and blue sky ! But thanks for the advice.

And with the sun, some rainbows appear on the surface of the water. Gorgeous!

We then stop to look at a few penguins that decided to come out for a late afternoon stroll along the beach.

We make a u-turn and sail back at the end of the fjord, and have a great view on the depth of the fjord from here.

There are a few nice deserted beaches.

And we start sailing back to the terminal. One last stop to observe the seals that are lying in the sun. The only ones missing are the dolphins! Unfortunately we won’t see any today.

We go past a last huge waterfall that gets us pretty wet.

Before making our way into the harbor. This was a really nice cruise. Definitely worth it and helps see the fjord from very close.

On the drive back we stop by a little river with its particular cliffs.

We take more time to stop and admire the landscape.

We spend the night at the campsite closest to Milford Sound, which is the largest campsite we have seen so far. Apparently there are over 120 spots! When we arrive at 6:30 pm the place isn’t too crowded. The area is absolutely beautiful, surrounded by mountains.

The next day, instead of doing the hike we initially planed, we decide to hike up Key Summit. This marks the beginning (or the end) of the Routeburn Trek that goes all the way to Glenorchy. We start the hike very early (as usual) and we are all alone! Yesterday, when we drove by the parking lot, it was jam packed, and we didn’t want to hike with a hundred other people. This hike being only 3 hours long, it is super popular among tourists, also it is the end of the Routeburn Trek, so you also have all the people attempting it. The view on the mountains during the way up is amazing.

The sky is blue and we know it won’t last. We get at the top of Key Summit in an hour and the view is breathtaking.

There is a tiny lake at the top that reflects the surrounding mountain summits. Beautiful.

We take the time to take photos and continue to a second lookout. This little part of the trail is super pretty. The vegetation and the colors are magical, and being all alone to admire this makes it even more special.

The lookout offers another view on the mountains and a glacier lake in the middle. Very nice view. The clouds beneath us make for a beautiful spectacle.

Very nice short hike to start the day.

After a quick snack in the van at the end of the hike, we drive towards Te Anau. This time we stop at ALL the viewpoints. The first one being the Mirror Lakes. Very pretty.

But here we are not alone. The huge tour buses are already on site and driving towards Milford Sound. Then we stop at Elington valley. Huge valley surrounded by mountains where we have fun with the camera’s timer and burst settings!

Finally we arrive closer to Te Anau. The weather is changing completely, and we feel lucky we decide to hike early in the morning, and even luckier to have changed the cruise to the previous day. We had read, before coming to New Zealand, that the weather would dictate our itinerary, and this is definitely what is happening to us. We haven’t spent a single day without changing our plans.

In Te Anau, we take advantage of the public library to charge our electronics and work on the blog. A food truck, we past by a couple times, seems really appealing so we stop there for a delicious lunch before hitting the road.

We have to go through Queenstown again, so we decided to stop at the awesome free shower spot we discovered the previous day! We have been handling the shower situation pretty nicely so far !

And now we drive towards the Mount Cook, highest summit in New Zealand at 12,218 ft altitude. We can’t get there tonight, because the drive is too long, so we stop in a campsite 40 miles from Queenstown and 120 miles from Mount Cook. Huge campsite right by a lake. We bought a nice New Zealand white wine, and spent the evening outside drinking and admiring the view.

Again we are spectators to another amazing sunset.

The reflection of the clouds on the lake, and the colors of the sky are exceptional.

We spend the night here before driving to Mount Cook the next day.