One of the highlights from the trip with my Sister was the famous Milford Sound. The first sight of Milford Sound is stunning, the cliffs rise out of dark and still waters and clouds and mountains are reflected on the surface.
It is a 6 hour drive from Queenstown, and as it was our last stop, before heading back again. That is a long drive, but absolutly worth it. We started after lunch at Ferg Burgers and drove past Te Anau, where we slept in the car on a DOC campsite.
And boy, did we get eaten alive by the sand flies cooking our dinner outside. They are horrible little flies that come out in swarms at dusk and dawn to feed on any warm blooded animal they can find. There bites are as itchy as it gets for a few days… but we learn their maori origin legend, which made me appreciate them at least a teeny tiny bit: The god Tu-te-raki-whanoa had just finished creating the landscape of Fiordland, which was so stunning in beauty that people stopped working and were standing around staring at it. The goddess Hinenuitepo became so angry at these unproductive people that she created the sandfly to bite them and so they could not linger any longer.
Due to our early night and the freezing low temperatures, we were up early in the morning left the camp site to the Milford Sound before 7 am in the morning. After a nice encounter with a cheeky Kea at the rowing waterfalls, we got in Milford Sound around 8 am. A great time to start the day in the sound, as you can see the sun coming over the mountains of the fjord. We then took one of the cruises out into the sound. Even though it feels like a touristy thing to do, it is nice to learn about the sound, get into the middle, and even out into the Tasman Sea. On top of that we saw one single crested penguin (tawaki) and lots of seals. And after the cruise we hung around for a little bit longer and were on our way out, before all the daily bus tour tourist from Queenstown arrived. I would love to come back, for a kayak tour and maybe a multi day hike to see more of the untouched Fjordlands.
