Milford Sound, New Zealand South Island – April 25th – April 26th, 2017

Milford Sound is iconic must-see New Zealand. After all of the amazing off the map places we’d already visited in New Zealand, we thought there was a good chance that the beauty of Milford Sound was tourist inflated. Although that’s likely the case for the overpriced 2-hour cruise that the boat companies want you to believe is necessary, the drive, stopping points along the drive, and views of the sound from land were nothing less than astounding. New Zealand never ceases to disappoint us. I guess some places are simply touristy for a reason.

The drive between Te Anau and Milford Sound.

We stopped at several places along the out-and-back road to the sound. Our first stop was a quick hike to a walkwire. A walkwire is exactly as it sounds: a wire that you walk on in lieu of a bridge. Although it may not sound exciting, for people that have a thing for suspension bridges, a walkwire took the over-water experience to a whole new level. Loved it! Next, we stopped at Gertrude Valley where we did a 2-hour hike through a gorgeous valley to a glacier waterfall where water cascaded over a mossy cliff. Although the hike was incredible, the spat which ensued because I got left in the dust and ended up taking the wrong trail was less than fun. No folks, even marital bliss has its moments in travel paradise… especially when you spend every second together for 10 months straight. Poor Paige… Anyway, back on the road, we next made our way through the 3/4 mile long Homer Tunnel. Besides the fact that tunnels are cool, this one was extra fun because it was dug at a steep angle and the scenery and weather was dramatically different on opposite sides of the mountain. Now at Milford Sound, we walked around in awe of the scenery, took far too may photos, and explored the low tide splendor. On the return journey, we stopped at the Chasm, an amazing waterfall which has cut crazy patterns and designs into the surrounding rock, as well as Marian Cascade, a nice river viewpoint where we managed some long exposure shots with my fancy new camera. After a very long day, we made camp at Cascade Creek, where we smuggled in Paige (she actually hid under the table covered in a towel) to avoid a very pricey night of self-contained camping… yes, yes, it was immoral, but the $40 price tag seemed exorbitant for a parking spot and a port-a-potty. Bending the rules isn’t breaking them, right?  

NZ walkwire. While on the hike, a bird found my shoe fascinating and kept jumping on it to peck at the yellow color. 

Gertrude Valley Track.

Milford Sound!

The Chasm and Marian Cascade walks. The middle picture shows hideaway Paige.

First thing in the morning, we completed the drive back to Te Anau where we were forced to say goodbye to Paige, who was flying out on her way to Central America (tough life for us travelers). After picking up some groceries, we did a trail run on a flat-ish, well-maintained portion of the Kepler Track. We ran about 4-miles through a beautiful rainforest to Shallow Bay before returning at a walk back to Freddy. It felt good to run. 

Run along a portion of the Kepler Track.