Over 500,000 visitors come to the Milford Sound each year. Our original intent was to avoid the crowds and do the 4 day Milford tramp, but it is fully booked until March so we decided to rest our feet and go with Option B, a Milford Sound cruise. We found ourselves overwhelmed with all of the cruising options–overnight, nature cruise, two hour, four hour, luxury cruise, and the list went on. So what did we choose? The smallest and cheapest and also the best, as far as we know!
Our two and a quarter hour cruise took us from one end of the sound to the other and back. The Milford Sound is full of sheer rock faces, waterfalls, grand views, and quickly changing weather. We were fortunate to have nice enough weather to stand on the viewing deck the entire cruise, only getting wet due to the boat going into a waterfall (and we were well warned about that). Another highlight of the cruise was seeing the yellow crested penguins (think “Surf’s Up!” movie). The seven birds we saw were incredibly entertaining. It looked like brothers hanging out. We watched them yell at each other, swim together, and just generally stumble around.
We were told the drive to Milford Sound was just as good as the cruise and I don’t know if we’d agree, but it was really nice. Our favorite part was a field covered in lupine with a back drop of the snow peaked mountains. There were spectacular mountain views all along the way too. This is truly a must-do for anyone traveling to NZ (and really a steal at about $65 USD for us both).
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- On the drive to Milford Sound
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- The kea birds in the carpark were used to having people around snapping photos
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- From the inside of our boat, the MV Friendship
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- Looking through the fiord
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- Yellow crested penguins
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- Lupine with a scotch broom backdrop
For more pictures check Flickr
One Response
December 14th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
Sounds like you had better weather than I did on the cruise of Milford Sound. It looks like you may have even seen Mitre Peak? Is that possible? I stood on the deck of my ship, and got soaked the entire time. No penguins. I think you are right that that the option you chose was, in fact, the best.
Nice shot of the Kea by the way. yes, they sit around waiting for you to come close, but they are still fascinating. The world’s only alpine parrot, you have to love them! So, you didn’t mention it, but did you get to go through the crazy tunnel to get to Milford Sound? I assume that you did to get to the Routeburn. Haven’t read that far on the blog yet. Thanks for the message too. I saved it and have already listened to it a few times.
By the way, snowing here today, all day. not much accumulation in Newberg, but it looks like it is going to be around for a while as the high for this entire week is supposed to be about 28.
Keep on keepin on!
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