We got up early because our bus was picking us up at 8AM in front of our hotel to take us on an all day excursion highlighted at Milford Sound with a boat ride. We were in a small van, not a big bus, with 6 other people. There was a couple from Massachussettes, a German guy, and another older couple, and one band geek college student from Nebraska. Our bus driver was very nice, he’d grown up in this area and knew a lot about pretty much everything. For the whole drive to the Sound our driver talked to us about the surroundings and he stopped at various 
spots along the drive for us to take pictures. About an hour or so in we stopped at a trail head and we had 2 ½ hours to hike to the summit if we wanted to, the driver gave the option not to do it if we chose and he’d drive those people around to some waterfalls. Marlo and I elected to do the hike up the hillside. It was pretty much straight up, but only took an hour or so to get to the top, so it wasn’t too bad. The views up there were fantastic. Once again we had terrific weather, and this area gets more rain than anywhere.
When we returned from the hike our driver was waiting there with some hot tea for us before we headed on to the sound. We came through a big tunnel to get through the mountain range, what made this interesting is that the tunnel was drilled through by hand back in the 50’s and they didn’t bother to put any siding on it, so the walls of the tunnel were just pure rock, looked really cool.
When we got to the sound we quickly boarded our boat which left in just 10 minutes. It was a fairly large boat, they use it for overnight trips and I guess it sleeps 64 people. Marlo and I found a spot up on the upper deck outside so we could see everything. The weather was great, but it was really windy when we got out in the water. There were countless waterfalls all over the mountainsides that plummeted into the sound. Several of these falls were really big, one in particular they told us was the height of Niagara falls. The boat took us all the wa
y through the sound, out into the Tasman Sea a bit, where the swells increased significantly, and then back through the sound. Along the way we spotted several fur seals and a couple of penguins in the water. I was actually inside getting coffee when everyone saw the penguins, but I got to hear about it from Marlo. When we came back upon that big waterfall the boat actually drove right up to it, I’d say about 20 to 30 feet from the base of it, close enough that we were all getting sprayed pretty good. It was really impressive to be at the base of a fall that large.
Once the boat ride was done we found our driver and began our trek back. One funny note, just before we got into the van we ran into the Folsom couple once again, the same people we kayaked with at Abel Talisman a week ago and ran into again at the glaciers. Turns out they were doing the overnight in the same boat we were on. We only had one stop on the way back, it was about 5PM at this point and most of the folks
were somewhat tired by now, not much talking going on in the van anymore. The girl from Nebraska had proven herself completely annoying. She was a band geek extraordinaire. We made one stop and a Kea (parrot-like bird) flew over to us, and she jumped out of the van and began feeding it, despite being told repeatedly that this was bad and the Kiwi’s didn’t want people feeding them. Our driver told her not to do it and she ignored him. She was more like a 13 year old than a college student. I hated her. I hope she never reproduces and makes more like her. She also asked ridiculous questions the whole trip, she needed to just shut up.
Once we got back it was basically dinner time so we walked up the street to the town center and found a nice little restaurant to have dinner. We didn’t get back til around 9:30 or so and just got ready to go to bed since we were pretty knocked out by all the day’s events.
spots along the drive for us to take pictures. About an hour or so in we stopped at a trail head and we had 2 ½ hours to hike to the summit if we wanted to, the driver gave the option not to do it if we chose and he’d drive those people around to some waterfalls. Marlo and I elected to do the hike up the hillside. It was pretty much straight up, but only took an hour or so to get to the top, so it wasn’t too bad. The views up there were fantastic. Once again we had terrific weather, and this area gets more rain than anywhere.When we returned from the hike our driver was waiting there with some hot tea for us before we headed on to the sound. We came through a big tunnel to get through the mountain range, what made this interesting is that the tunnel was drilled through by hand back in the 50’s and they didn’t bother to put any siding on it, so the walls of the tunnel were just pure rock, looked really cool.
When we got to the sound we quickly boarded our boat which left in just 10 minutes. It was a fairly large boat, they use it for overnight trips and I guess it sleeps 64 people. Marlo and I found a spot up on the upper deck outside so we could see everything. The weather was great, but it was really windy when we got out in the water. There were countless waterfalls all over the mountainsides that plummeted into the sound. Several of these falls were really big, one in particular they told us was the height of Niagara falls. The boat took us all the wa
y through the sound, out into the Tasman Sea a bit, where the swells increased significantly, and then back through the sound. Along the way we spotted several fur seals and a couple of penguins in the water. I was actually inside getting coffee when everyone saw the penguins, but I got to hear about it from Marlo. When we came back upon that big waterfall the boat actually drove right up to it, I’d say about 20 to 30 feet from the base of it, close enough that we were all getting sprayed pretty good. It was really impressive to be at the base of a fall that large.Once the boat ride was done we found our driver and began our trek back. One funny note, just before we got into the van we ran into the Folsom couple once again, the same people we kayaked with at Abel Talisman a week ago and ran into again at the glaciers. Turns out they were doing the overnight in the same boat we were on. We only had one stop on the way back, it was about 5PM at this point and most of the folks
were somewhat tired by now, not much talking going on in the van anymore. The girl from Nebraska had proven herself completely annoying. She was a band geek extraordinaire. We made one stop and a Kea (parrot-like bird) flew over to us, and she jumped out of the van and began feeding it, despite being told repeatedly that this was bad and the Kiwi’s didn’t want people feeding them. Our driver told her not to do it and she ignored him. She was more like a 13 year old than a college student. I hated her. I hope she never reproduces and makes more like her. She also asked ridiculous questions the whole trip, she needed to just shut up.Once we got back it was basically dinner time so we walked up the street to the town center and found a nice little restaurant to have dinner. We didn’t get back til around 9:30 or so and just got ready to go to bed since we were pretty knocked out by all the day’s events.
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