Milford Sound

We have been living in New Zealand for over a year, but it took visitors coming for two weeks to finally get us to the South Island. The famous, scenic South Island.

We flew into Queenstown and visited the town for brunch and a bit of a stroll before heading down to Te Anau. We couldn't stop taking pictures from the moment our feet touched the ground. It would have started earlier, but we had a bit of a cloudy landing. 

We arrived in Te Anau to some snow advisories for the tunnel and snow chain restrictions for all vehicles travelling to Milford Sound. Since none of us have had any experience with snow chains, we decided it was best not to take our chances, on the off chance that we'd actually have to use them. So we joined a bus tour instead. 

We weren't thrilled with this option at first because we were worried it would be too rushed and we wouldn't get to stop and take photos when we wanted and see the things we wanted to see. However, we went with EcoTours and our driver/guide Simon was extremely knowledgeable, friendly and accommodating. We had a schedule on the way there as we didn't want to miss the 11a ferry, so we only stopped at Mirror Lakes. Definitely worthwhile and beautifully calm in the morning. 

It was a pleasant surprise to arrive at the ferry terminal to find our boat waiting and that our small busload of about 25 people made up half the passengers. It was not crowded at all and there was plenty of room to move about all the decks, and fresh Pita Pit on board. 

It was a very calm, scenic boat ride. Past waterfalls, mountain lions (not really, but apparently one of the hills looks like a lion and is so named), seals and more beautiful scenery through the 'sound'. Simon told us it's actually not a sound, but a fjord. However, since it was wrongfully named a sound all those years ago, the name has just stuck and it's too hard to shake it. 

On the return back down the fjord toward the docking point, we came right up underneath the waterfall. It was pretty cool to see it from so close. I stayed at the front of the boat, thinking it would be a quick sprinkle. It didn't seem like much at the time, but I came away pretty wet, and we had some camera lenses to dry off. 

On bus home we stopped at all the good places and Simon let us call out requests to stop whenever we wanted. 

kea

introduced plant

Snow lillies

Had we driven ourselves, I wouldn't have learned about the 'snow lillies' (as I call them), the history of Te Anau (the lake used to be the sea, that's why it has some hybrid critters that have adapted to fresh water living in it), and that the yellow flowers you see everywhere are actually introduced 'weeds'. He also gave us plenty of time to play with the apline parrot- kea. 

harvesting spring water

One of our stops was to 'harvest' fresh spring water. It was fresh and cool, and still tasted alright the second day too!

We stopped at least twice for some longer 20 minute hikes/walks, and never did he rush anyone to get back on the bus.

I got to explore off the trail a bit on the first hike to see this beautiful blue water coming out of a cave. On the second hike, we made a miniature snow man. Never had any need for snow chains though (thankfully).

koru

look closely- there's a snowman

 


We arrived back to Te Anau satisfied and tired. It was a good idea to take the bus tour. We had some grilled sandwiches and soup for dinner, and then set out to explore the nearby bird sanctuary. We saw some neat birds in cages, but the most fun was trying to capture the wild ones on film. Between the three cameras we had with us, we managed to snap some good shots of the New Zealand tui bird. He makes a very unique and pretty sound, so you always know when to look for him.

Tui

And, later in the evening we had a visitor- a beautiful cat came to say hello and of course was warmly welcomed. We had to shoo it away though before it got too comfortable, as it had a collar and surely someone would be looking for it before too long.