Milford Sound 7/30

We were a little nervous on our Milford Sound day because of rumors that bad weather was on its way. We kept our fingers crossed that the sun would prevail, and it did! When we first arrived in Qeueenstown, we booked a coach-cruise-coach trip from Queenstown to Milford Sound with Eco-tours. We met them at 7:40 am and began our bus ride to the sound (which is actually a fjord, but...)

The bus ride was stunning. We drove on more windy roads through huge beautiful snow-capped mountains. The bus had a glass roof, so when the road got narrow and tree-lined, we could still look up at the mountains. On the way there, we stopped at a few places for picture-taking and the bus driver provided commentary on what we were seeing and about some of the native birds of New Zealand. It was actually really interesting and I really enjoyed having the narration! At 1:15 we arrived in Milford and boarded our cruise. It was a small boat, which is ideal for navigating the sound, and although it was quite cold, free coffee and tea were provided and the sun was shining, so we were able to enjoy it and get out on deck for picture taking.

Back to the whole Fjord vs. Sound discrepency. Milford Sound was NAMED before they realized that it was in fact a fjord (carved by glaciers, not a river) and they decided to just leave the name alone because too many things would have to change. We both enjoyed the cruise (we were a teeny bit disappointed that because of their dry winter the waterfalls were minimized). The best part came very close to the end when we spotted a pod of bottle nose dolphins! The boat drove up close to them for pictures and we saw some mom and baby dolphins swimming together! One dolphin swam at the front of the boat in the wake...I was within 5 ft of it! We have some pictures, but they don't really do it justice!

After the cruise, we boarded the bus again. For the drive home, there were fewer stops and no commentary. Instead, they played two New Zealand-made films, Whale Rider and The World's Fastest Indian. Mari had seen Whale Rider, but I hadn't and I really enjoyed it (highly recommend renting it if you haven't seen it). The other movie was good as well and having the movies made the trip go much faster.

Back in Queenstown and exhausted from the long day, we had a glass of wine and went to bed (probably asleep by 9:30!)