Milford Sound and Jet Boat fun!

March 12, 2024

3/11/2024 - Natural Beauty Day

We left the Ramada Hotel in Queenstown at 7:00am because we had to travel 4 hours to Milford Sound - and back!

On the way, we learned a bit of history. For instance a man named William Reese founded Queenstown when he started sheep farming in 1859. But in 1860 the gold rush started and the town boomed, and William became the town peacemaker and made sure in hard times that food was successfully rationed. When gold was struck and the town grew, they declared that it was a town fit for a queen - thus the name.

We also learned that the only land mammals before settlers came were 2 species of bats. Any mammals that have been introduced have not had natural predators . For example, the red deer population exploded, but at some point, in New Zealand they have domesticated red deer. We were told that they are the first domesticated animal in thousands of years. We did pass a few deer farms, they went by too quickly for me to take pictures, but one of the others got a decent pic. Picture a field full of deer rather than cows - that is what they looked like.

The whole trip to Milford Sound was beautiful. We traveled through farmland, mountains and national forest area. This is an area where there is a lot of “tramping”. Tramping is the NZ word for hiking. There are hiking trails that can take days to hike that have DOC (department of conservation) huts along them that you can reserve for the night. They were described as a shelter with bunk beds and a small cooking area that people share - I picture a tiny hostel. Because hiking is so popular here, they can book up in a year advance! We also passed through the town, Garston, where it is the furthest you can ever be from the sea anywhere in New Zealand (120 miles).

Along the way to Milford Sound, we also stopped to view the Lord of the Rings location for the Misty Mountains. These mountains are behind Glenorchy, a village at the northern end of Lake Wakatipu near Queenstown. They are a part of the southern alps. And yes, we geeked out about that.

The picture above and the four below are the mountains we were told were part of the Misty Mountains.

Next we stopped at a place called mirror lake for a walk along the boardwalk. On our way there we crossed over the 45th parallel a couple of times, and we crossed over the continental divide. The continental divide is where the water changes direction. Here, one way flows to the Pacific Ocean, the other towards the Tasman Sea. It seemed crazy that we could do all that on the same trip.

The water was very clear!

Australian purple swamp hens , known in New Zealand as pūkeko were in their nest, right off of the path. (We thought they looked like turkey vultures)

We made several additional scenic stops in the Fiordsland National Forest. It was so nice to not just whip through such a beautiful place.

We stopped at this beautiful creek bed to see if we could see the parrot called the Kea. We didn’t see any parrots, but we still loved the stop.

And then this roaring stream.

Mountain top looking like it is floating in the sky.

Waterfall coming off a glacier.

We finally reached Milford Sound. It is a long narrow inlet located at the northernmost end of Fiordland National park. We boarded our boat for an incredible 2 hour cruise of the sound, stretching out to the Tasman Sea. The pictures will not do it justice, but it was a stunningly beautiful place.

All the essentials….food….drink…..hats….phones.. let’s go!

Some of the smaller waterfalls were just there because of the rain, but this was one (with the cool rainbow) of the permanent ones.

A crowd favorite was seal rock.

This was called a curtain waterfall.

Hanging with Meghan from Boston.

Meghan and Lynne - no da!

Christine and Dave in the mist.

Fearless leader - Colin Mairs.

It went from sunny to misty as we got out towards the Tasmin Sea.

We could see a glacier above the clouds!

Some of our tour group took a small plane back from Milford sound to Queenstown, it took approximately 1.5 hours. We opted for the bus, so it was a long (did I mention LONG) 4 hour drive back.

The next morning on Tuesday 3/12/2024, Mary and some other tour mates took a jet boat ride down the Dart River and into Mount Aspiring National Park-a UNESCO world heritage site. We traveled mostly at about 45-50mph through the river. When it was wide enough we did some 360 degree spins! It was loads of fun!