Milford Sound lies 100km West of Queenstown but is a good 600km horseshoe shaped round trip. The top right of the horseshoe is Queenstown and Milford Sound lies at the top left on the Tasman coast. The sprawling mass of the Southern Alps prohibits any more direct approach. Rather than venturing all that way out there on our own we decided to do the day trip from Queenstown.
Setting off at 6.45am we got on the coach whilst it was still dark and very very cold. The coach made its way around Lake Wakatipu and along the base of The Remarkables. As the first signs of daylight were appearing we could start to see the outline of the dominating mountain range. As the early morning wore on more and more light appeared but the visibility was often kept low by the fog. At some stages it felt like travelling through a cloud, it was a welcome relief not to have the responsibility of driving on these roads. The further we went the more the sun started to burn off the fog and the more we could see, although it was still feeling pretty nippy. After a few hours we arrived at the pleasant lakeside town of Te Anau (bottom left of the horseshoe), we were about two thirds of the way there, but had the slowest third to go as we needed to go up and over the mountains and in one case straight through.
So far the scenery had been quite farmland based, (and i think a few people slept through it), but after our mid morning coffee break in Te Anau things were starting to heat up as we set off on the Milford Road. After a short while we pulled up in a valley at the base of a small mountain range where the fog had all but burnt off leaving just a thin layer lining the base of the mountains. Fog itself is often tainted as an annoyance, but in this instance it has never looked so good. A little further down the road we arrived at the very aptly named 'Mirror Lakes' which gave some incredible views of the surrounding mountains and vegetation. Our final stop before Milford Sound was The Chasm, a large waterfall that had blasted the rock in its way to create its own path through the forest leaving some very interestingly shaped rock formations in its wake. The last stage of the coach journey was through the mountain as we headed through the Homer tunnel, a single lane 1.5km long gradient tunnel that had taken over 20 years of blasting through solid rock to create. As its one-way and 1.5km in length you need to time your journey right otherwise you can be waiting up to ten minutes for the green light!
Shortly after midday we arrived at Milford Lodge, a quick comfort break and a chance to stretch the legs before we were whisked onto our cruise boat, The Lady Bowen, for a two and half hour cruise around the Sound. The Sound itself is the result of a long retreated Glacier but it reaches all the way out the Tasman Sea so is actually full of salt water. This coupled with the depth, often over 200m, makes a great retreat from the Ocean for sealife including Fur Seals and Dolphins, of the former we saw plenty but unfortunately no dolphins. On the cruise we passed plenty of waterfalls, some of which are only present after several days of rain, and all manner of rock formations. The Sound is such a vast expanse of space that you need the two hours to appreciate it fully. The cliffs mainly rise vertically out of the water for half a kilometer or more, and what can look like a small waterfall on the otherside of the Sound can be the size of a 50 storey building when you get up close. Its hard to describe in words (and to do justice) to the beauty of Milford Sound. The feeling of euphoria due to the epic expanse of the openess of the perfectly still water combined with the conflicting constrictions of the mountains rising vertically from them is almost surreal at times.
Weather conditions were good for us, in what can be a very pot luck location. As the cruise wore on some of the bigger clouds dispersed and we had fantastic blue skies and sunshine emenating from behind the remaining scattered clouds. With conditions good we were able to get out into the Tasman and view the entrance to the Sound from the Sea. The same as Captain Cook would of done some 250 years previous, Cook however misinterpreted the entrance as just a small bay and Milford Sound remained hidden from European eyes for 100 years.
After a spot of lunch on the boat we headed back to our coach for a long trip back to Queenstown. At the end of the day it felt like a long coach journey back, but still the views arriving back to Queenstown with the sun setting behind the mountains makes it feel like you've had a full day of sightseeing rather than just the coach being 'transportation'.
Due to time constraints and the distance to Milford Sound we were unsure at first if we were going to see it. However choosing the day trip from Queenstown made it feasible and extremely enjoyable. We would definitely recommend to include Milford Sounds on the list for any visit to the South Island!
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