Milford Sound, Queenstown

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Milford Sound, Queenstown
November 23, 2008


We left Te Anau at 7 AM to avoid all the tourist buses that crowd onto the road between Te Anau and Milford Sound after 9. This road is full of spectacular scenery including huge glacial bowls that today were full of waterfalls. There were only 8 people on our Milford Sound cruise. A “two-for-one” voucher for this cruise had come with our rental camper, so of course we had to do this. Mitre Peak in Milford Sound is one NZ icon that is on almost every NZ travel ad, so it can’t be missed. We thought the cruise was wonderful. It was only a couple of hours, but Milford Sound isn’t very long so we were able to make it all the way to the Tasman Sea.

We are now in Queenstown, the adventure capital of NZ, maybe even the world. If we had the money and the guts, we could spend weeks here scaring ourselves silly. This is where bungy jumping was invented, so one can jump off bridges, towers, and ledges in several different locations. One can go jet boating, heli-biking, flying by wire, parachuting, bungy swinging, boogie boarding in the river waves, hang gliding, white water river running, ballooning, and Americas Cup sailing. There are luge tracks, quad runner and motorcycle rentals. You can take a steamboat cruise on the lake, a gondola ride up the mountain, ride horses, play golf, or rent a sailboat. You can take a Lord of the Rings tour and you can even take a tour to watch people doing all these crazy things. And…for only $35 you can see a kiwi in a cage or pay $47 to watch some Maori dancers. I think drinking is a competitive sport here as there are dozens of bars. We will probably just take advantage of the hiking tracks, but it would be fun to watch some of the wild stuff. This area is beautiful and full of young adventure tourists from all over the world. I think we heard over ten languages spoken today.

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Photos

Clever Sign
We stopped here on the way to Mllford Sound.

Kea, Alpine Parrot
It was unusual to see a Kea in a tree. They are usually seen running around begging for food at overlooks.

NZ Fur Seals in Milford Sound
We don't need to go out of our way to see any more seals on this trip. They're everywhere we go, it seems.

Mitre Peak
Blue sky would have helped.

Glacial Bowl
Look closely to see Joe. This is on the road to Milford Sound, spectacular.

Milford Sound
This is what it looked like before we got on the boat. The clouds dissipated pretty quickly, though.

Queenstown
What a place!

Ice Bar
We didn't go in, but in this bar everything is made of ice...the bar, the stools, sculptures and even the drink glasses are made of ice.

License Plate
This car was parked in Queenstown, Didn't see any trapped kids in it.