Milford Sound, NZ

We left Christchurch and flew a short hop to Queenstown.  It was a lovely day for flying and we were able to see the southern Alps as well as the farmlands below.  We arrived in Queensland and were met at the airport with transport to our hotel.  We are staying on the beautiful Lake Wapatipu. The entire area is just gorgeous and Queenstown is a much smaller town than we have visited recently, and we love the much slower pace. We have booked reservations high atop the mountain at the Gondola Restaurant. The view is spectacular and the buffet quite good. We watch the city lights come on down below and enjoy a great evening. Riding the gondola is even a thrill.

Today, April 20, we are slightly weary as we have all been away from home over three weeks, but we are excited about our trip to Milford Sound. We take a bus for nearly four hours through the countryside from Queenstown to Milford Sound.  This is the shortest route over the mountain range. The sights were just incredible. We saw flock after flock of sheep, herds of deer, along with field after field of turnips which our driver said are being grown for winter stock feed. This is one of the beautiful mountain lakes we pass on our way. We pass through yet another World Heritage Site in the Fijords National Park. This is the fourth site with this designation since the beginning of our trip.  They have had rainy weather for nearly three weeks and today was the first sunny day and we certainly appreciated that. This is Mirror Lakes and you can see why the name. This is a cool climate rain forest, and we see snow on some of the mountain peaks.Other mountains look like they have snow, but it  is actually feldspar. We finally arrive at the Sound and board our boat for the trip out through the sound.  Lunch has been provided, and we are so awed by the sights that it is difficult to focus on eating so we can finish and take more photos. Every twist and turn is a photo op and sometimes Lydia and I just sat back and watched the people all fighting for the perfect spot. Jerry was drenched as the boat pilot took us right into a spectacular water falls. The trip through the Sound was really not long enough and soon we were back at the dock.  On the long four hour drive over, we had made a decision that we did not want to make the long return trip, so we booked ourselves on the fixed-wing plane to bring us back.  Initially, we had said "no way" as it was quite costly, but we never hesitated after the long bus ride. We were all treated to even more spectacular scenery and Bob even rode as Co-Pilot. We had ear phones and narration from the pilot, along with what we had learned from our bus driver, so we felt like we actually knew what we were seeing. The ride ended all too quickly as our pilot brought the plane in on a grassy area at the local airport.  We all had mixed opinions as to which part of the day was our favorite; the bus ride, the boat ride in the sound or the plane trip back home.  It was just a wonderful experience.