Milford Sound

25/01/12-28/01/12

Time to move on again and electing to wear my sandals for the next few days to let my feet heal I walked into town to jump onto my next bus which was to take me further into the mountains to the natural wonder Milford Sound. I thought I would be on a basic shuttle bus but it turned out that I was to be travelling on one of the many tourist buses which cart people to the many ferries that depart from Milford. This was an added bonus as along the route the bus stopped at several destinations to allow us to take pictures, and what a journey it was, the drive form Te Anau to Milford Sound has to be one of the most stunning driving roads in the world. As the bus steadily made its way along we passed by various lakes and mountains all getting more spectacular the further along we went. During the winter the road is a dangerous place to be as avalanches can happen at any time, several drifts of snow pointed out where last season’s ones had come down. I was booked in to spend 3 nights at Milford lodge only 1km away from the Sound. Ever since I had made the booking I know I had made a mistake in staying so many nights but with a bus ticket already in hand I knew it was going to be a long stay. On arriving I checked in but I jumped on the free shuttle bus down to the Sound to get my first look at what some regard as the ‘eighth wonder of the world’. It is a beautiful sight; the valley was carved out by a glacier. Knowing I had plenty of time here I only spent a little time walking round before I headed back.

Well the weather had other ideas, the next day I woke up to rain and strong winds and these continued for the rest of the day right through to when I went to bed that night. I took refuse all day and didn’t even attempt to head out – a boring rain day.
A new day and a change in weather once again as the sun was out shining when I got up. Once again I headed down to the Sound to look at a few things I missed out the last time I was down there including several short walks. With little else to do I headed back to the hostel to avoid the afternoon tourist coaches before returning later in the afternoon to sit out and read in the sun.

Time to move on (finally) to what is considered the extreme capital of New Zealand – Queenstown. My bus wasn’t until the afternoon so by the time I got there it was already evening so I only managed to have a quick walk round that evening.