Oct 16th- 17th
Driving for around 4 hours from Queenstown we arrived near Milford Sound, where the following day we would take a scenic cruise around the Milford Sound, for now we stayed at a DOC campsite- Department of Conservation campsite, so we just popped the $6 each into a wooden box, the campsite was located next to a pretty lake, and we were the only tent there with a few camper vans dotted around. The campers would no doubt have toilets onboard, so it was left to us to brave the long drop toilet, Shannon refused to go, I went once, the actual toilet is scary as its so dark down there and you imagine all sorts lurking there, but also the cubicle was full of flies and spiders. Also being near a lake we were concerned about sandflies, a few of them did find us but think we got away with it. We went a drive further towards Milford Sound on the Milford Road lapping up the stunning views then came across a lovely tramping trail which we followed around.
Where we camped..
Awoke early in the morning to drive to Milford Wharf Visitor Centre where we would be joining our cruise. The weather had turned misty and foggy though. We had joined the 'Southern Discoveries, Milford Sound Scenic Cruise'. The 1 hour 45 minute boat journey would take us to 20 points of interest, including several waterfalls, due to the weather they were all gushing down the mountainside in spectacular style, caves, coves the most famous and one of the highest mountain Mitre Peak was shrouded in fog so we couldn't see how mighty its 1,692 metres of beauty rising from the ocean floor truly was but overall we were not disappointed by the weather, it was mesmerising in its own way, of course it may have been more special if the weather was better.
Our boat departed at 9am and cost $58 pp, including a buffet breakfast and free tea and coffee throughout. There are multiple boats which depart around the same time, some are cheap and cheerful and some more posher than ours. We were happy with our choice.
After the cruise we were driving away from Milford when we came across some more native Kiwi birds the Kea. They are known to peck at anything, and indeed when they landed on our car they wanted to nibble at the car! It was a fun experience being in the car and them tapping away at the roof.
