Overnight in Milford Sound

Friday, March 29

How glorious last night's sleep was after traveling for so long! We packed up and hit the road about 9:30am, finding a parking spot near downtown and walking mainstreet. We found Olive Cafe, which the lady who checked us in last night recommended because it's tucked away from the main sidewalk so not many tourists discover it.

How you order your food confused us at first as we sat ourselves at a table, then realized menus were at the front door, then after bringing the menus back to our table, realized you order at the counter then wait for your food at your table. Good thing it was uncrowded because we probably looked a little ridiculous. Service was really fast and the food truly delicious! The stack of three pancakes with bacon and a seared banana was the best way to start the morning. Following breakfast, we walked the rest of mainstreet and shopped a bit before picking up the key to Safer Parking, a gated parking lot where we would keep the car while we did an overnight excursion to Milford Sound.

A stop on Milford Road, "Mirror Lakes"

We drove to Safer Parking in the more residential part of Te Anau and were picked up for our Milford Sound tour just after noon. The driver said he would be bringing us to the "mother bus", the full size coach bus that would take us to the Sound. He then proceeded to drive us back to the downtown Visitor Centre where we had been minutes earlier and we were informed the big bus wouldn't be there until 1:10pm. If I'd only known how close everything was and how it worked when I booked the pickup location, we could have done less backtracking! But Mike, the driver that picked us up at Safer Parking was fun and we learned more about New Zealand from him, so it wasn't all bad.

We were picked up by our driver and guide, Kyle, and joined the people who were already on the bus, coming from Queenstown. There were just 14 people on the full-size coach bus. We drove Milford Road, considered the prettiest drive in the world. Before it was made, Milford Sound was the hardest of all the 14 fiords to get to. After is was made, Milford Sound is the easiest to get to! And yes, they are called Sounds, but technically they are fiords because they were formed by glaciers receding and the sea following, instead of the sea flooding a river valley.

Milford Road, the prettiest drive in the world

A stop on Milford Road

Milford Road, and easy access to Milford Sound, was made possible because of the Homer Tunnel, which goes right through the heart of a mountain! The tunnel was started in 1938 and finished in 1953. It took so long to complete partly because they started when all they had was pickaxes and partly because the project was put on hold during WWII.

During our two-hour drive, Kyle was very informative as he told us about New Zealand's environment and pointed out things like manuka trees. These native trees have been used for medicinal purposes from the earliest days of New Zealand. The Mauri (New Zealand's first inhabitants) would put it on cuts and burns, and today the honey bees make from these trees can even be medicinal! Kyle also told stories of his work as a location scout and guide for many movies made in New Zealand, including The Hobbit trilogy.

We drove through Fiordland National Park to Milford Sound and boarded the Milford Wanderer, our home for the night. After moving into our room, a welcome and orientation, and soup, we got onto a smaller boat that took us over to Sandfly Point. From there, we had a guided walk on the Milford Track, one of the greatest walks in the world. Of course, a lot more was learned about New Zealand's ecosystem, including that ferns grow as trees there and you can tell the difference between male and female fern trees! Females have the old leaves hanging off them and males do not.

Our home for the night, the Milford Wanderer

Ferns: they grow 'em bigger here!
Females have the old leaves hanging down.

One of the most fascinating things I learned about New Zealand is that there are no native predators! Their predators, or pests, were all brought to the island and consist of rats, stoats, and possums. Because there were no predators, many bird species are not equipped to and don't know how to protect themselves, leaving them, and especially their eggs and young, susceptible to these pests.

Bakewell tart, ice cream, cream & berries

Supper back on the Wanderer was oh so delicious: roast pork with roasted potatoes and kumara and bakewell tart with ice cream, cream, and berries for dessert. Then it was back on deck as the Captain announced that we were coming up to Stirling Falls. Not only did we come up to it, we go INTO it! The Captain steered us up close and very personal with the large waterfall, spraying everyone on deck!

About 11pm I was, quite literally, scared awake by Mom and the two of us went on deck for stargazing. The sky was crystal clear and the stars were so bright!

Saturday, March 30

After a quick breakfast in the morning, the next two hours were spent standing on deck taking in every minute of our full-length cruise of the Sound. We went out to the Tasman Sea as the sun was rising, then headed back inland all while the steep, green cliffs of the Sound towered above. The Captain also gave us another douse of Stirling Falls, if anyone had missed the first. (The story goes that if you get sprayed by the waterfall, you'll wake up the next morning two years younger.)

Playground zipline in Te Anau

There are only about 300 Takahe in existence

Back to port around 9am, then another enjoyable bus ride back through Fiordland National Park and into Te Anau. While Mom and Charlie went souvenir shopping, Dad and I went to the park and rode a small zipline at the playground. It was so much fun; we didn't even care that we were the only adults using it. Before completely leaving Te Anau behind, we stopped to see many native birds at the bird sanctuary, including a Takahe, a blue endangered bird.

On to Queenstown! Our accommodations for the night was a small one-room cabin at a very modern and clean campground. We took advantage of their free shuttle into town for supper. After eating at "Pub on the Wharf", a very crowded pub with really good food (I had lamb and potatoes), we strolled along downtown before our shuttle back to the campground.