Friday 20 April 2018

New Zealand Day 6 : Milford Sound


3/11/2016 Thursday
Today we woke up really early at 5.30am as we are going to Mildford Sound by tour! Jou booked the tour where the bus will pick us up at the Base Hotel, drive us all the way from our hotel to the jetty to take a ferry to the sound. 

The view at 6 plus in the morning

more view

so scenic that you cannot afford to sleep in the bus
The bus driver is very informative. He kept telling us some stories and information every time we passed by all these areas.Not sure other passengers were listening but Jou and I had a great time listening to his stories.

passing by a lake

The whole journey from Queenstown to Mildford Sound is about 4 hours. However, after 2.5 hours, our bus driver stopped at Te Anau for 35 minutes to refill petrol and of course we had our breakfast and toilet break here.

This is the Te Anau lake. Our bus turned into this junction where to refill the petrol 

After 35 minutes of break, we continued our journey to the Mildford Sound.
We passed by a few places but the driver stopped at The Mirror Lake for just 15 minutes for us to take some photos.

The driver is so kind to help us with this photo at a open field with nice mountain view at the back of us

Mirror Lake

see the signboard

hi, it's me jumping again

Really a beautiful lake

nice trees as we passed by to the jetty



saw this beautiful stream..crystal clear water




Crystal clear bluish fresh water


how I wish I can wash my face here- really spring water from the mountain



When the glacier melts, they formed into all these tiny waterfalls which looks like veins


more veins..frozen at the base






Taken from inside the bus
Spot the Kea, a famous bird in this area
Kea are medium-sized birds, growing up to 50cm (19 inches) high. They have olive green plumage, with vivid orange feathers on the underside their wings. It is an endangered and protected species and we are not encourage to feed them or go near


Kea are also famous for its curious and mischievous behavior- pecking the rubber trim and the the side mirrors




including campers van


Our driver then continued our journey and stopped by Monkey Creek which is located within the Hollyford Valley. Monkey Creek is a glacier-fed spring with water so pure you can drink it straight from the source. Our driver told us we can fill up our water bottle from the bubbling brook and enjoy its icy refreshing taste. We didn't fill up our bottle because I was a bit sceptical to drink directly from a stream as back in KL, we only drink boiled water. I know it is in New Zealand and I even drink straight from the tap water but somehow asking me to drink from this public area and from the ground really not convincing at all. I just worried what if later I stomachache or what, then it will totally spoilt my journey.



Jou scooped up using her hand and drink a sip.



So crystal clear right, I managed to only wash my face and...



jumped!






And we finally arrived at the Mildford Sound pier


Go Orange, not Go Green. Our 2.5 hours to paradise!


boarded the ferry at about 11am


Milford Sound sits within Fiordland National Park in the southwest of New Zealand’s South Island. The park is part of Te Wahipounamu, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Despite its name, Milford Sound is actually a fiord, not a sound. It is also the only fiord in New Zealand that is accessible by road. However, its remote location, bounded by steep cliffs and dense rainforest, means its special features remain unspoilt. 

Jou came here before and she told me it usually rains but we were lucky that the weather was very kind to us



One of the permanent waterfall. This is Lady Elizabeth Bowen Falls, Milford’s highest waterfall at 162m



we came at the right time-during spring. Ice starts to melts forming thousand of thousands of waterfall. Some waterfalls are permanent while some only can be seen during  heavy rain


so beautiful, also my first waterfalls by the lake experience


as we were entering deeper and deeper and thousands of flowing waterfall on our left and right




And, guess what we saw..

can you spot anything?


Say hie to the New Zealand Fur Seal (also creatively known as Seal Rock) -chilling on the rocks of Copper Point


More of the waterfall, this one I totally cannot recall what it is call.

It was freezing cold!

And we came to this second permanent waterfall in Mildford Sound.


Stirling Fall

This waterfall is far deeper into the fiord . Not only did the cruise get us several views of this 155m waterfall, but it also literally got us up-close and personal views of it from right beneath its drop.


Right beneath its drop
getting ready to be drenched


 the ferry went right beneath the waterfall to allow us  at the front deck of the ferry to really get drenched under its frigid waters. We both were all wet!

 Our cruise came with a lunch meal.

Image result for fish and chip at mildford sound
Classic fish and chips. Cannot compare to the one I had at Akaroa
 See, told you the weather was really kind to us. Hot and sunny.

into the deep fiord. This is where I really let go of everything. EVERYTHING has been dumped right into the sea here.
I would strongly suggest you to visit Mildford Sound-you will be 'awaken' by all the waterfalls here.

It was sunny with dark clouds coming...


We did managed to see some dolphins swimming by but too bad don't have any picture to capture it. Only in my memory :)

Every good thing will come to an end, same as our 2.5 hours on the cruise. We took the same bus back to Queenstown.

Sunny sunny day back to the Queenstown.

Windows wallpaper
It was very fun and tiring day. After we showered, we went to a korean restaurant to eat our favourite Budaejigae at Sam Young- perfect to warm ourselves after one whole days drenching in the falls hehehe

delicious side dishes

An yeong hae sae yo- lets dig in
And after dinner, we walked around the town as it was our last night here.

We won ourselves some free cookies with ice-cream at Cookie Time

Freezing cold, yet still want to have a picture with this bar and coffee shop

Long queue at the Fergburger- luckily we had tried yesterday..without the long queue


We also signed up for the super-exciting shot-over jet before continue our journey to Dunedin in the next morning! Stay tune to our next day exciting experience!


Discover the rest of my New Zealand Trip as follow :

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