Blogs from Milford Sound, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 12

29th May 2009 Unfortunately another day lost to travel, after 5 hours driving we arrived in Te Anau. After finding out about cruises around Milford Sound, we ended up visiting a bird sanctuary. Slight unimpressed and extremely tired from our adventure yesterday we ended up having a nap. Our nap became so long that we the supermarket had closed by the time we woke up. This forced us to go out for an Italian meal, at least we didn't have to cook. 30th May 2009 It was another 2 hour drive along the world famous Milford road until we reached Milford Sounds. The views certainly took the sting out of the drive. Along the way there were several signs warning us of a need for snow chains, ignoring the signs we proceeded without them. As there ... read more

The first thing you will notice about this blog title is that I thought about it in the same train of thought that I thought of the Fox Glacier one. The second thing is the use of the world sound to mean good. I hasten to add, this is not part of my usual vocabulary, but it did seem appropriate in this instance. I went from Queenstown to Milford Sound with a company known as Eco-Tours. Why don't you try and guess why I chose them above the myriad of other companies that run buses there. While you're thinking, I'll just ramble on about how while most companies leave Queenstown at 6.30am, Eco Tours leave at 8.30am. Anyway, welcome back thinkers, did you guess the reason yet? The first couple of hours between Queenstown and Te ... read more

As there is nowhere to stay at the Milford Sound, the nearest place to stop is Te Anau. This is where our criminal life began. The Great Lakes Holiday Park had good facilities and a lovely TV room with a roaring log fire and so this was the place where we attempted our first blag at only paying for one of us to stay, so whilst Geen did the bizz booking in etc, yours truly hid out in the back and pretended she was invisible. Result! We were in, paying only $13.50 instead of $26. Which made us feel somewhat guilty, considering the friendliness of the site managers, but hey, we got a budget to consider! We booked with the Milford Adventurer to take us on a 2 hour cruise out to the Sound. Whilst freezing ... read more

So back down to earth with a bump. After leaving the Remarkables Lodge, we headed south then west and arrived at a place called Te Anau - this was the last proper town before heading on to Milford Sound. After our night at a campsite, we woke up to a murky, overcast morning. While filling up with petrol, we checked about the road to Milford as we’d heard that it was compulsory to carry snow chains during particular winter months of the year. However, on asking the attendant, no snow chains were required today. I felt better after hearing that as I didn’t relish the thought of being stuck out in Milford Sound in a massive snow storm. So we drove north out of Te Anau wondering what we would find - we’d been told that ... read more

We arrived in Te Anau, driving from Queenstown, the evening before. Te Anau is quiet and small... even with it being the height of tourist season and everything booked up, it was still calm. I guess they only have a very limited capacity of hotel rooms. Te Anau is at the edge of Fiordland National Park (the largest national park in NZ and one of the largest in the world) and next to Lake Te Anau. It is a favorite spot to stay before heading into Fiordland. In the morning, we were picked up by a large van by Fiordland Wilderness Experience for a sea kayak tour of Milford Sound. I think we were the last ones to be picked up and I ended up sitting in the middle front seat between our two guides (made ... read more