Milford Sound New Zealand
Continuing my series on my New Zealand road trips, we will make a day trip to Milford Sound. (MS), 298 Km from Queenstown (QT). To follow my post go to Google >maps.The road to MILFORD SOUND is one of the world's finest drives. You can go there by tour coach, car rental, by air in the small planes and let me tell you one more way where you can have the best of both worlds...... go by coach and if you are lucky and the light plane is not full, back by air at a discount. The driver will let you all know...and give 30 seconds to decide. Be quick or someone else will beat you to it. And you get to be back in QT early and do your shopping.
Book your coach online early. If going on your own, book your cruise tickets early.
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| Bring your GPS along. It helps especially getting in and out of a big city. |
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| Advantage of coach trip is that you get to go for the 12.30 pm cruise ,back at 2.20pm and reach QT by 7pm. Above ,our handsome driver. |
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| Inside the bigger RED Boat. More Japanese seen here. They spend 30 minutes eating Kiwi sushi ! You can buy lunch on the boat. They count per plate, so you just pile it as high as you can and share 2 people . Not really necessary to buy food online. |
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| The BLUE Boats are smaller and tickets cheaper. And the dolphins seem to like smaller boats!! You can make your own free coffee. Bring along your own snacks. |
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| RED Boat at the wharf... |
The calm waters of Milford Sound.... huge peaks, waterfalls and rock faces that tumble into the depths of the fiord.
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| Seals on the rocks |
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| Smaller boat... |
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| RED Boat |
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| Waiting and ticketing hall at MS. Only toilets are available. No food sold here. Even not enough chairs to sit. That is why if you are going on your own, you must time it accurately. Too early and there is nothing to do, and too late you may miss the cruise. |
The Kea is a large species of parrot found in forested and alpine regions of the South Island.
If you are going by rented vehicle, try not to go by campervan as certain stretches of the road can be very steep and winding. And a campervan slows you down. You may end up going back to Queenstown very late at night.
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| Admiring the scenery along the way..the Te Anau to Milford Sound part of the route has some of the best sceneries in the whole of NZ. |
Mirror lakes...the mirror lakes in NZ are not that big compared with those in Juizhaigou, China. They are more like Mirror Ponds here !
Capturing the scenery from the coach..
Te Anau...
Te Anau lake...
At the entrance to the Homer Tunnel..the Kea bird..
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| Te Anau is half way between QT and MS..Nice town....shops and a beautiful. lake. |
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| This is seen all over NZ... |
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| Dolphins... |
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| Enjoying the cruise...and acting out a scene from THE TITANIC !! |
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| Seals resting on the rocks.... |
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| A Japanese tourist thinking... " I should have come earlier " |
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| A BLUE BOAT.. |
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| THE HOMER TUNNEL......beautiful scenery before and after the tunnel.. traffic is controlled by green lights at both ends. During winter vehicles are not allowed to stop because of the dangers from avalanches. The tunnel is not like the modern ones we have here in Malaysia and elsewhere. Its a bit dark and you have the feeling of going into a coalmine ! |
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| Moving out from the wharf at Milford Sound... ( below ) aboard the smaller boat.. |
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| They fetch you by boat from here to Milford Track. |
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| Milford Track, described as the finest walk in the world. The Track begins at the northern end of Lake Te Anau and winds its way through some of the world’s most vivid and least trampled wilderness where you end the journey with a boat trip from Sandfly Point to the Milford Sound wharf. It is a 3 nights tramp. You must book and pay for the 3 nights stay at the huts. Make sure you are physically fit or you may get injured along the way and will need to be helicoptered out. The closest we went to Milford Track is this starting point ! |
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| The best pie in Te Anau... next door is a Malaysian Chinese couple selling souvenirs... he went to NZ more than 20 years ago to work. They liked the place and stayed. |
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| Waterfall at MS. Bring along your windbreaker coz the boat will go near to it and you will get wet. |
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| Our Toyota Prado we used throughout South Island in another of our trips... |
