Milford Sound Cruise

We were picked up by our bus to take us to Milford Sound this morning from our base in the little town of Te Anau, which was about a 2 hour drive. This was our most picturesque day of the trip, so we will let the photos speak for themselves. Our bus driver was very informative of the terrain we covered as we entered Fiordland National Park. First, we had a short break at Mirror Lakes:

We then stopped to fill our water bottle in one of the freshest rivers in the country where no water filter is necessary (ugh, we know…a plastic one that is ironically terrible for the environment and not worthy of this pristine water!) It was so delicious, cold and refreshing. If only the States, particularly Colorado, had kept our river systems clean! What a precious, unique, and unforgettable experience:

Here are more views taken while riding on the bus:

This glacier is rare to see in the park due to clouds. We were lucky to have a clear day!

We reached the base of the cruise on the Milford Sound. Here is a picture of our boat. We chose to take the smallest one possible in order to be able to cruise the area in a way that brought us closest to the mountain edges and to have the least amount of people on the boat as possible. The company was Mitre Peak:

Once we boarded, Cam enjoyed a cup of coffee:

We were both fortunate and unfortunate to have a beautiful summer day in the park. When it's rainy, apparently hundreds of waterfalls cascade off the mountains. When it's clear like it was today, many of them are dry and do not fall. It was a win-lose situation as we haven't had a lot of warm weather days in our three weeks here! Regardless, the scenery was gorgeous and we still enjoyed waterfalls and so much beauty:

We passed by some Fur Seals sun bathing on the rocks:

And witnessed another one of Monica's favorite things in the world, bottlenose dolphins! A sight that apparently only happens on average once a week. What a treat! There were at least 5 of them, putting on a show for our boat. We took a video, which the internet here is far too weak to upload, but this is one photo to document the experience:

We cruised out to Tasman Sea, then turned around. Here are more photos of our gorgeous scenery:

It was both of our first times in a fiord, and a day in a unique national park that we will surely never forget (not to mention be forever grateful for.) Talk about an amazing and unforgettable experience! 

When we returned to town, we enjoyed blue bird skies, shopped a bit, ate dinner at a delicious Italian restaurant on the strip, then watched the sun set behind the mountains from our amazing lakefront view in Te Anau:

Special thank you to: Susan and Marvin for our amazing Milford Sound cruise and to Gene and Meg for our delicious dinner in Te Anau!