We went on a one day Milford Sound tour today with Real Journeys. They picked us up from YHA Te Anau, and then we got onto a custom built bus. According to the tour driver, the bus was built specifically for the Queenstown / Te Anau – Milford Sound journey. The room of the bus was clear, so that we could see all around and above us.
The views whilst going up to Milford Sound was stunning. We could see lots of snow all over, the results of the avalanche that occurred a couple of weeks ago.
We made several stops whilst on the way up at several places of interest. One of them was called Mirror Lakes, and from the picture, you should be able to see why!
When we reached the Real Journeys base, we hopped onto the cruise boat, and we were off! As it was winter, they had a promotion where we got a free lunch pack. We started off eating it inside the boat, but quickly decided to go out onto the deck so that we can see more. It was cold and oh so windy, but really worth it.
The skipper of the boat spotted some bottlenose dolphins and he brought us right next to the dolphins, and it was so cool! It was a whole pod of dolphins swimming around, and they stayed around the boat for quite awhile before swimming off.
There were tons of waterfalls all around us. It had rained the previous day, so according to one of the guides, there were quite a few “temporary” waterfalls which would be gone by the end of the day.
Other than the dolphins, we also managed to catch a glimpse of a few tiny penguins, but they were so small and hard to see! Finally, we saw some seals sunning themselves on the rocks nearby.
It was an experience I wouldn’t have liked to have missed, and I’m so glad the roads were cleared of the avalanche in time for us to make the trip!
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Milford Sound was the last refuge in the wild of the kakapo: there may be some still undiscovered in remote areas, but it is doubtful. Birds that could be found here in the 1980s were removed to safe islands away from predators such as cats.