milford sound, new zealand:

milford sound

Visiting Milford Sound has always been high on my list of places to visit, however, we've just never seemed to have had the chance to get there on any of our previous visits. With my sister Sarah also joining us on holidays, it was made priority that we get to the west coast and check it out.

We left Wanaka early and made the four hour drive to Te Anau, the closest town to Milford, before driving another two hours through the stunning Fiordland National Park,  arriving at the sound for our boat trip. 
I'll quickly mention that Fiordland National Park and Milford are infamous for the amount of rainfall received each year (something like 200+ days), so we scored big time with blue sky and perfect conditions!

The drive through the national park is breathtaking, with lush rainforest, lakes and so many mighty mountains appearing at every turn.  I would highly recommend allowing up to an extra hour to make stops and enjoy the scenery, as it is truly epic. In fact, I would even rate the drive as good as the boat trip - so beautiful.
Once out on the water, we made our way to the sound's entrance, out in the wild Tasman Sea, passing iconic Mitre Peak, and other massive cliffs that soared into mountains and then dove straight down into the water. Amazing, and so worth the wait.

Next: the east coast town of Moeraki

lake te anau

driving through fiordland national park

mirror lake

a tui

 

arriving at milford sound - it was such a buzz seeing mitre peak!

exploring the sound

clouds rolling in

part of the coastline seen from the tasman sea

out in the tasman sea, looking towards australia

looking back into milford sound from the tasman sea

seals!

stirling falls

driving back to te anau