Magical Milford Sound

Well as you know we are moving to Auckland but before that we already had a weeks holiday booked down in Queenstown area of South Island.

We were SOOOO lucky with the weather, usually Milford sound is notorious for rain and lack of views, but during our time down south the only place in NZ which had a sun on the weather forecast was Milford and Queenstown area!

We also tried a new adventure in accommodation - we hired a small Jucy campervan, which was excellent fun and so comfortable that one night we both slept 12 hours! Unheard of for Malcolm!

 

This is the Jucy cook!

Our first stop was Milford sound which although not far as the crow flies from Queenstown it takes 5+ hours by car as the road goes 3 sides of a square to get round the mountain ranges! The scenery was superb just like the weather. We did a small walk on the Routeburn Track from the Divide up to Key Summit. I have rarely seen mountains so glorious. Superlatives were not enough!

 

 

 

We stayed at Milford Sound to avoid the huge number of tour buses that bring 1000's of tourists each day - so we did our Jucy Cruise early the next morning and saw the sound looking perfect - we even saw a whale in the sound - how lucky were we!

 

 To Malcolm New Zealand meant Milford Sound - so it was extra special for him to see it for real. - it was cold though!

  This gives an idea of scale - see the other crise boat?

As well as the whale we got fairly close up and personal to the Fairy Falls where there is a permanent rainbow!

  Unfortunately the tourists were not the only thing at Milford in hoards - sandflies were enjoying the sun as well! so the Jucy cook had to resort to a head net whilst cooking an excellent bacon and egg sandwich after the cruise.

 

We had hoped to do a day walk on the Milford Track but there was no water taxis working to cross the sound to the start, as the Great Walk season does not start until October. So we headed back to Te Anau.