Isn’t it simply breathtaking?
We were blessed with a beautiful sunny day at the Milford Sound, which was most unusual in this part of the world as they say Milford Sound is the wettest place in New Zealand!
Expect to see some exciting wildlife in action here, including keas (large species of parrot found in NZ), seals, penguins and dolphins.
Playful seals resting on a rock.
Dolphins following our cruise.
A curious kea waiting for the traffic light with us.
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Like most people, we did Milford Sound as a day trip from Queenstown. We spent most of our day in the car, and the rest on the cruise (you have to join a cruise in order to really see the Milford Sound) – it was a very long day but was well worth it.
The most comfortable way is to book yourself a coach from Queenstown for the 5-hour road trip. Alternatively, you could drive to a stopover town called Te Anau, 2 hours from Queenstown, then catch a coach from Te Anau for the rest of the 3-hour journey to Milford Sound.
Of course, you can choose to drive the full 5 hours yourself. Some people say it’s one of the best drives in the world (I just don’t share this passion).
To make the choice easier for you, here’s my driving vs coaching pros and cons list:
Driving
- PROS:
- It’s cheaper (especially if you have a group to share the petrol).
- If you really like to drive, it’s an interesting drive.
- CONS:
- You wouldn’t be able to really enjoy the road trip from Queenstown to Milford Sound because you’d have a cruise to catch. This means no matter how beautiful the view is, you probably wouldn’t wanna get out of your car to take photos in the fear that you might miss your cruise. And on your way back from Milford Sound, the sun’s already setting and you’d probably be too tired to enjoy the view.
Coaching
- PROS:
- It gives everyone in your group a chance to rest.
- The coach driver is also a tour guide that will tell you interesting Milford Sound stories and natural life.
- The coach scheduled quite a few photo stops along the way, so we had the opportunity to capture the scenery and did not have to worry about missing the cruise because the coach and the cruise were operated by the same company/part of the same package.
- CONS:
- It’s more expensive compared to driving. Prepare to spend more than NZ$100 per person.
Tips:
- The coaches that start from Queenstown (as opposed to Te Anau) are usually the bigger coaches. There is even a glass-top option if you pay a premium. However, not all of the tour companies offer glass-top coaches so make sure you ask this question if it is important to you.
- They say the smaller cruises are allowed to get closer to the wildlife for you to get a closer look at them; whereas the larger cruises generally are more luxurious and has better amenities.
- There are a lot of reviews on Tripadvisor for you to find one that suits your need. Write to them and ask for a discount if you’re going in a group – I wrote to Jucy Cruise and they generously gave us a discount from $119 per person to $100 per person for our group (of 10) from Te Anau!
- We opted for Jucy Cruise‘s coach+cruise from Te Anau, small coach and small cruise, but both very comfortable and had everything we needed, and the driver was very helpful and friendly. The funny thing was, our group was too tired from the early drive and the snowboarding from the day before, we were asleep for the larger part of the coach and only woke up for the photo stops. When we left, the driver thanked us and said he’s never seen any group that slept like us, haha!
En route to Milford Sound.
There were constantly occurring mini avalanches along the way.
Mirror lakes everywhere.
Happy snap!
HER{curio}MAJESTY – I was here. August 2013.