Milford Sound

We set off from Invercargil in the pouring rain, not looking at all hopeful for our special day ahead Roger drove us for about an hour to meet the Kiwi Milford Sound bus. It rained heavily all the way.

As soon as we boarded the big Kiwi bus, the sun came out. We had obviously left one microclimate and entered another. I was praying for this. God is showing me all nature’s wonders on this trip so why would he not show it at its best!

We stopped for a coffee break at Lake Te Anau and it was a beautiful clear but chilly day.

Then we proceeded into Fjordland and one of the Seven Wonders of the World! While we had had rain, the mountains here had had a good dusting of snow overnight and with the now clear blue sky, the peaks looked majestic.

It was a long drive through the beautiful Fjords consisting of scenic rainforests, lakes and mountains, and we stopped a couple of times to take photos and to drink from the mountain streams.

We entered Homer Tunnel which had been originally dug out by hand by only 5 men in the early 50s, quite incredible as they had to overcome many obstacles. Many men joined them to finish the job.

There were some very cheeky Kaka birds interacting with the motorists as they waited to go into the tunnel.

Finally we boarded the ferry for our two hour cruise and were immediately served with a most delicious and substantial buffet lunch.

The mountains towered high above us on both sides of the turquoise water and many were covered with snow.

We delighted in see seals sunning themselves on some rocks and a couple of little penguins.

But when a huge dolphin swam at speed beside the ferry surfacing every so often to blow, well this was just magic. He was so fast the photo is a not great!

We could not ask for better weather which made such a difference to the colours here.

On our return journey we stopped off at the Observatory Centre where we heard about the history of the Milford Sound and were able to see corel and tropical fish 20 feet below the surface.

We eventually returned to the Kiwi bus which was waiting to take us back to Queenstown. It was a four hour journey but despite it being a very picturesque one, many had already done this journey in the morning while four of us had come from Invercargill so the scenery was new to us.

However, the Kiwi Experience had a movie ready for the return journey which was good but quite sad. The evening sunshine casting long shadows across the hills and mountains looked absolutely stunning and I found it difficult to take my eyes off it all the way back to Queenstown, which looked as beautiful as ever beside the lake in the evening light.