Braving the Wild Seas of Milford Sound

When it rains, it pours. Especially in the West Coast of NZ. And, surprisingly, also when folks come to visit you in far off places! Right after driving Max and Kristan to the airport, wrapping up our Queenstown adventure together, we headed back into town to meet up with Mike and Ingrid (Elisse’s parents). Earlier this year we were convincing enough to persuade them to come visit and travel with us over the holidays : )

First stop: Milford Sound. The furthest north of NZ’s 15 fiords, it’s known (both by locals today and in Maori story) to be the most dramatic. Conveniently for us it’s also the most accessible (thanks to ridiculous road and tunnel building in the 1930’s), so we drove up to the head of the fiord and jumped on an overnight cruise boat to start our exploration.

The first afternoon’s weather was stormy, with intermittent rain and winds of 75kph coming up the fiord. One rogue wave even made it onto the deck of our rather large boat, soaking Mike and Elisse, who were alone in enjoying the strong winds at the front of the boat. Throughout the evening we got great, moody views of the steep mountains around the fiord disappearing into the clouds and enjoyed bright white waterfalls on every vertical surface. After we moored for the evening, Mike went for a swim (despite the weather!), and then we had a really nice dinner chatting with two Canadian folks.

The next morning, breakfast was available only from 7 to 7:30, providing a strong impetus to get up early. The weather had miraculously cleared overnight, so we were greeted by crisp and beautifully clear air, as we slowly watched the orange sunlight make its way down the fiord walls. The boat took us down the length of the fiord and briefly out into the Tasman Sea before heading back to the head of the Sound; along the way we got beautiful views of the fiord walls, including Mitre Peak and the Milford Overhang, as well as of some of the larger waterfalls that were still around (most of the ones we’d seen during the rainstorm were completely gone the next morning!). The contrast between the two days’ conditions was remarkable – we all ended up appreciating that we were able to experience both ends of the spectrum. The whole trip was really really amazing, beyond what we were able to capture in our photos.