Milford Sound, New Zealand

After finishing the Milford Track, I went on one of the cruises of the Milford Sound, which was just short of unbelievable. It is hard to show how giant and dramatic the fiord is through pictures, but it was jaw-dropping and awe-inspiring. If you look closely, you can see a 40 ft tall boat in one of the pictures of Mitre Peak (bottom center), which gives it a bit of scale. Mitre Peak rises over 5000 ft. almost vertically from the sea. Then a bus back to Queenstown made the end of a long few days, but very worthwhile ones.


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Details:
I got another $1 nakebus fare from Queenstown to Te Anau, leaving at 6:55. It takes a few hours and then I had about 4 hours to kill in Te Anau. The bus drops right off at the DOC Visitor Center, where you have to check in if you are doing one of the great walks, such as the Milford Track. Facing the visitor center, walk 10 min to the right along the shore, and it is the town of Te Anau and 10 min to the left is the trail to the wildlife center. To book the Milford Track, you should do it at least two or three months in advance. The DOC can book everything to and from Te Anau online($80). I only did to Milford Sound and then used Cruize Milford to get me the boat tour and back to Queentown at around 10:00pm the same day ($70).