The last time we were in New Zealand, on our RTW tour, we had only nine days to see as much of the country as possible. It's not a huge place, but the roads can be slow, and often the old New England adage is true: you can't get there from here. Because of this, we gave Milford Sound, New Zealand's #1 must-see natural attraction, a miss on our first visit, but with a little planning we were able to visit this spectacular place.
Tourist buses will leave Queenstown first thing in the morning, drive for 5 hours, put you on a boat for 60 minutes, and return you to Queenstown in time for supper. Unsurprisingly this is not our idea of a good time, so we picked up yet another sh*tty rental car and made our way from Queenstown out to the Sound mid-day, and spent the night at the uninspiring Milford Sound Lodge - the only lodging option in the area.
 |
| Views on the ride out through the Eglinton Valley |
The road to Milford is rumored to be particularly slow and winding, but we didn't find it any worse than other paths in NZ. However, it was quite an eerie experience driving through the pitch-black, one-way, 1:10 gradient Homer Tunnel.
 |
| Awaiting the green light |
 |
| Driving through the center of the earth |
The Milford Sound is located within Fiordland National Park, but despite this we were luck enough to have dry weather on the day we toured the Sound. We caught one of the first boats out and were treated to a peaceful ride past seal colonies and waterfalls, through the looming vertical rock walls to Tasman Sea at the mouth of the fiord.
 |
| Morning sun shining through |
 |
The waterfalls are supposedly even more
impressive after a heavy rain |
 |
| Mineral striations in the rocks |
 |
| Low-hanging clouds |
We have
many more pictures that scratch the surface of the magnificence and scale of the Milford Sound if you're curious!
After our cruise, we meandered about halfway back to Queenstown, stopping just south of Te Anau where we spent a few lazy days at a backpacker lodge in Manapouri. This happily coincided with my New Zealand birthday (one day before my US birthday ;-)) and we managed to make a very respectable birthday dinner on our little gas burner.
 |
| Freestone Backpackers: our cabin was more or less the same as the one seen here |
 |
| View from our porch |
 |
| Down by Lake Manapouri |
 |
| Jason prepares a birthday feast |
 |
| Lamb, rice, and greenbeans - plus wine of course. Not too shabby! |
A relaxing end to our South Island touring. Up next: back to the North!
