Milford Sound

Fiordland Bakery, Te Anau/Real Journeys tour bus on unknown road-  We could tell as soon as we broke through the clouds on our decent into Queenstown that this was going to be an amazing place.  It was the first time we had seen something from the plane that made us immediately get out the camera and start taking pictures.  It is a little difficult to describe  but in order to land at the airport the plane flies in between two huge mountain ranges and over a lake so it almost feels like a tunnel.  The town itself has a real ski resort feel to it.  I would say comparable to ski towns in Colorado except it is half way around the world and it is summer. 

The view from the plane

So we knew we were going to enjoy the landscape but quickly found out we would enjoy the people too.  April bought an Australia hoodie and was going to wear it to dinner (it was raining and last time we were in rain we were not prepared and were nearly eaten by a jungle pheasant).  Let’s not get into I told you so’s but there is a chance it was mentioned to her that she might not want to wear that in New Zealand.  The first person to see her was one of the guys working the front desk area at the hotel and his comment made me a fan of New Zealanders for life… "That is an awful hoodie.”  A short shopping trip later April was the proud owner of a New Zealand hoodie and we could finally go to dinner!

Dinner cemented Queenstown as one of my favorite places of all time (after just 4 hours of being there).  Not because the food was amazing…although we didn’t eat lunch and it was pretty ding-dang good.  The final piece to win me over was that the bartender at the restaurant graduated from UW-Madison so automatically best town ever (even if his girlfriend was from Minnesota…or went to school there…or something I stopped listening after Madison).  Being a good Badger he even gave us a book with 2 for 1 drink coupons in it…thank you Wisconsin!

The first night made us that much more excited for our first planned activity.  We would be leaving by bus the next morning to do an overnight cruise on Milford Sound.  Due to the crazy geography of the area, looking at Milford Sound on google maps made it appear to be less than 30 miles from Queenstown but by bus it takes over 5 hours to get there.  Luckily we are getting pretty good at these long bus trips and actually look forward to them (we’re watching Entourage and are already into season 4).  The drive also went by much faster than expected because of the beautiful scenery.  If you have ever seen any of the Lord of the Rings movies they were filmed in this part of the world. Being on a tour bus, they also stop at good places to look and take pictures. 

We boarded our boat for the night “The Wanderer” and headed out on the water for a short trip around Milford Sound (which is actually a Fjord and I wanted to type that word).  It is probably getting old saying how beautiful the scenery was but really hard to say anything else.  There are hundreds of waterfalls varying in size coming out of the mountains and it didn’t hurt that the rain cleared up and it was a bright and sunny evening. 

The Milford Wanderer

Our bunk :)

We then stopped in a cove where we would be spending the night and were able to do “water activities” which included kayaking, going on a smaller motor boat, or swimming.  We chose kayaking and really enjoyed it.  We even managed to break down a language barrier and get someone on the boat to take our picture while we were out there.   Once we were done kayaking, I had a chance to jump off the boat and go for a quick swim.  The water melted directly from mountain glaciers and flowed to my body, so to say it chilly would be quite the understatement.

I look pretty confident, don't I???

In the morning we woke up early and had a full tour of the area and even out a bit into the Tasman Sea.  During the tour it was fairly windy and cold so we had to alternate between outside and inside but a few sights did bring everyone out.  One was seals laying out on the rocks.  Maybe should have stayed in for that one as they look cool but smell terrible and don’t really do much.  The real highlight, especially for April, was the dolphins that swam up right next to the boat.  Seeing dolphins was not on our radar at all so it was really exciting.  It was a great way to end the cruise and our last chance for relaxation before we really see what adventure New Zealand has for us starting tomorrow!

The sun trying to peak out in the morning