Day 8: Milford Sound

Morning sunrise!

Hello family and friends, just checking back into our blog! Yesterday, we made our way to the South Island via plane to arrive in Queenstown. Queenstown, a little “adventure town” as the locals call it, sits on the shores of the South Island’s Lake Wakatipu, set against the dramatic Southern Alps.

This morning, we had an early start at about 6 o’clock where we walked from our hostel to the Real Journeys bus in the little town of Queenstown. To get to Milford Sound, it takes 4-4.5 hours by bus. We drove through the foothills of the Southern Alps in which we made several stops along the way. First, we stopped in Te Anau at a local cafe for tea and coffee. Second, we stopped in the Fiordland National Park a couple times to see different sights. Along the route, there were herds of sheep, deer, and cows, dairy farms, rivers, and so on and we even got to see the beautiful and colorful sunrise. Further on, we crossed an area that was exactly halfway between the equator and South Pole. Other stops consisted of Monkey creek and mirror lake as shown below.

Scenic stop in Fiordland National Park


During the drive, the bus driver told us some history and facts about this area of New Zealand. One specific landmark we got to see was Lake Te Anau which has 3 arms reaching deep into Fiorland National Park. From there, we passed by the Murchison Mountains which habitats the flightless blue bird called Takahē and glowworm caves. Did you know that the sheep population in New Zealand is roughly 25 million and the cow population is 6 million compared to only about 5 million humans? Also, the deer market makes over a billion dollars for New Zealand each year and that’s because they are able to farm the deer just like they do with the sheep and cows. Originally, the Europeans brought over deer for gaming (hunting) but the deer began to take over the land by eating the indigenous plants. To fix the problem, after many years and experiments, they finally figured out that deer can be farmed because they do not cause a threat to the sheep or cows. Now, the deer problem is tamed.

Fiordland national rainforest is a temporate rainforest that gets 8-9 meters of rain per year. Inside the rainforest, there are beech trees that are roughly 200-300 years old. Did you know the national bird for New Zealand is the kiwi? Sadly, there are only 68,000 kiwi birds left leaving them highly endangered due to stokes and possums that are not native eating them. The new prime minister Jacenda Ardern has implemented ways to help preserve the nations kiwi bird and eliminate predators. To do so, a poison is being dropped from helicopters into forests to kill off the possums as well as other measures are being implemented to protect the land and its indigenous species. As a whole, we learned that it is not smart to introduce new species into New Zealand’s ecosystem as it could become a disaster.

Once we reached sea level, we arrived at the port around 12:45 pm where our boat was waiting. The Milford Sound boat ride lasted 2 hours. We sailed through Milford Sound all the way to the Tasman Sea.
Milford Sound is a fiord in the southwest of New Zealand’s South Island. It’s known for towering Mitre Peak, plus rainforests and waterfalls like Stirling and Bowen falls, which plummet down the cliff sides. We got close enough to the cliffside waterfalls which sprayed water on us at the front of the boat. Upon reaching the Tasman Sea, the wake was large enough to splash over the front of the boat spraying everyone who was standing there. The majority of the ride consisted of rain; however, that made for amazing views of numerous waterfalls falling from every cliff side. The views were breathtaking and amazing despite the weather conditions.

After the boat ride on the Milford Sound we had a 4.5 hour bus ride back to Queenstown. We finally arrived in Queenstown around 7 pm where we all dispersed for the rest of the evening to enjoy dinner in town.

Tomorrow is a free day to get out and explore this adventurous, unique, and beautiful mountain town! 🙂