Milford Sound Cruise

Getting to Milford Sound

Today is a long day.  We start in Te Anau and head to Milford Sound for a cruise before back-tracking and finishing up in Queenstown for our stay there.

Despite the country reverting to standard time (end of daylight saving), we slept in.  The sun rises late her and it was very misty, meaning there was little natural light to help us get up.  Te Anau claims to be on a permanent daylight-saving time but I don’t think anyone pays much attention to it.

Our cruise had been booked for 1100 but due to lack of customers, they rebooked us to 1345.  Just as well as we wouldn’t have made it to the original time (or it would have been a rush).

Google Maps suggested the drive would take 1h30 but signs on the road suggested 2h00.  The cruise operators suggest leaving Te Anau 3h before the cruise to allow for finding a carpark, walking and checking-in.

We made a stop at Mirror Lake and drove through the Homer Tunnel before arriving at Milford Sound’s carpark around 1200.  The huge carpark was set up for the pre-Covid tourism boom and came with hefty price tag of NZD25 for five hours.  However, the nearby café where we lunched was very worn despite the tourism boom in the previous years.

It was a short walk from the café to the cruise terminal.  In front of the terminal were 28 bus platforms but only 1 full-sized bus and a minivan.  It was a sorry sight and I felt for the tourism industry.

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Milford Sound Cruise

Our 2h cruise was booked through a discount site called Bookme.co.nz, under the brand of Jucy Cruises but it was actually operated by Pure Milford.  I guess it’s like a codeshare in airline lingo, except that the marketing airline has no planes.  We got it for NZD59 instead of the normal price of NZD99.

We boarded the large catamaran at 1330.  It wasn’t very busy with other passengers.  The crew gave commentaries along the way via the PA and also on the open deck on the front.  While the scenery was spectacular, it was difficult to get a sense of scale until we see another boat dwarfed by the fjords.

Due to the amazing dry weather lately, including today, the numerous waterfalls that are sometimes here were nearly all dry.  The cruise took us out to sea briefly where we looked back into Milford Sound; yeah I can kinda see how James Cook missed it twice especially if weather was bad.

On the way back, we pulled up close to Stirling Falls.  At 151m, it is three times the height of Niagara Falls but the 1300m mountain behind disguises its height.

I came to Milford Sound with my mum some 35 years ago.  It’s better the second time around, probably because I can still remember it.  We docked two hours after departure and we commenced our drive to Queenstown at 1600.

To avoid a late dinner in Queenstown, we grabbed Subway at Te Anau.  I drove part of the journey to Queenstown and we arrived at Frankton around 2000 to get some groceries before settling into our apartment at Pounamu.