Milford Sound

The shores of Lake Wakatipu

After our two nights in Franz Josef, we spent an entire day traveling southeast to Queenstown, one of the most famous cities in New Zealand. In the wintertime, it is a thriving ski town, and in the summer, it is equally busy with hikers, kayakers, boaters, bikers and all other manner of outdoor enthusiasts. Queenstown is situated around one of the biggest and most beautiful lakes in New Zealand, Lake Wakatipu, and even the 7 hour bus trip here was amazing. Once again, we arrived rather late in the day on our first night here, so we just settled in, but yesterday, on our first full day here, we had a real adventure. We got picked up at 6:30 am from our hotel for a trip to one of the most famous places in New Zealand: Milford Sound. The majority of the Lord of the Rings movies were filmed around Queenstown and in Fiordland National Park (where Milford Sound...which is actually a fiord (carved by glaciers), not a sound (a sunken riverbed) is located) and once you see it, it is immediately apparent why.

Milford Sound

The first European to discover Milford Sound, along with so many other things in New Zealand, was Captain Cook. He actually sailed past it three or four times before attempting to navigate into it. Which is understandable, because even from just a few kilometers outside the Sound in the Tasman Sea (one of the roughest bodies of water in the world, where our large catamaran cruise boat turned around), you can barely see the entrance to it, much less tell that it is big enough to sail into. The scenery there is just spectacular. The mountains rise straight up out of the water, and since it had just rained, every mountainside was covered in waterfalls. In fact, the largest mountain in the world that that rises out of the ocean is in Milford Sound.

One of the many Milford Sound waterfalls

The cruise up the Sound, out into the Tasman Sea, and back lasted about three hours. The weather gradually cleared, and by the end of the cruise we had a beautiful day to enjoy. Every bend we turned around was more beautiful than the last. We saw fur seals, all kinds of birds, and more and more mountains rising straight out of the water, some of which had a dusting of fresh snow on the top. I was a little sad when it was over, but even more adventures awaited us. Instead of taking the bus back (even though the bus ride was gorgeous...the bus even had a glass roof to really let us enjoy the sights), we took a helicopter.

Ready for takeoff...

Now, I've never been in a helicopter before, and I was just a tad nervous. But once Jeff, the helicopter pilot, took off, and I looked around, it was worth a few nerves.

Milford Sound from a helicopter

Riding in the helicopter felt a little like riding a roller coaster. You could really feel every change in motion, whether it was caused by Jeff steering or the wind. A few of my knuckles turned white from holding on, but overall it was one of the most amazing and fun things I've ever done. Jeff even landed on a glacier at the top of a mountain for us.

Jeff and I on the glacier.

The bus ride to Milford Sound took about 4-5 hours. The helicopter ride back to Queenstown took 45 minutes. Jeff is highly efficient. He pointed out relevant places as we went. The adrenaline from the helicopter ride lasted me the rest of the day, while we wandered around downtown Queenstown and had dinner in the oldest building in town. A very, very wonderful introduction to the Queenstown area.

Lake Wakatipu from the helicopter