Day 17 - Thursday February 29, 2024 - Fjordland National Park and Milford Sound

By Ellen Outten

 



Another early morning.  No surprise here.  Breakfast at 6:30 and on the bus and driving out of the parking lot at 7:15 am.   We were on our way to Milford Sound.  

You have to look at a map of the south island of New Zealand to realize there's one road in and out.  There's no direct road and probably for good reason that the beautiful national park would be overrun with so many more people if it were easier to get there.  

If you could get there as the crow flies:

The real and only way to get there which is 187 miles, and almost 5 hours as it's 2 lanes and several comfort stops.   But, it's worth the trip.



The first part of the drive runs beside the beautiful lake Wapatiku and then you enter open grazing area.  Fully 1/3rd of the south island is under conservative control with little population at all.  





As you enter the national park, Fjordland, you see sheer cliffs and perfectly clear streams and waterfalls.











So we drove 5 hours to take a 2 hour boat ride and cutting out some rest stops, another 4 hours to get back to our hotel.  Some took the option of flying a small plane back, but Wayne and I opted for the bus ride back.

The boat ride was lovely.  The water was perfectly clear and we saw some wonderful waterfalls.  The boat made a trip through Milford Sound and entered the Tazman Sea.... nearest land mass west... Australia and Tasmania. 









Tomorrow we have a day of leisure.   All to ourselves in Queenstown.  We plan to goof off and maybe walk into town for lunch.  Luggage has to be outside our doors at 9:30 pm tomorrow night as we leave for the airport at 5:30 am.  We fly from Queenstown to Christchurch to catch a connecting flight to Rotorora arriving at 11 am.  Another long day!












Comments

  1. AnonymousFebruary 29, 2024 at 9:48 PM

    Amazing pictures, especially mirror lake. 💕

    ReplyDelete
  2. Travel FreakApril 2, 2024 at 6:53 AM

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