Queenstown to Milford Sound

Te Anau is super quaint, and generally not as filled with tourists as some parts of Queenstown, or the major stopping points of Milford Sound. The main street has a number of restaurants that all looked really great, as well as a nice grocery store where we loaded up on some essentials for our trip to the Sound the next day.

Okay, so we had some time to kill, and this was pretty affordable considering what it is. Hop on a boat and cruise over to take a hike and boat ride through caves filled with glowworms. Honestly, the amount that we saw was a little underwhelming, but it was still a cool experience, and worth doing if you've got a few hours to kill.

The boat ride through the Fiordlands to the glowworm caves was great! There are a number of great looking hikes that we didn't get to do, but just getting to ride through the Fiords was perfect.

It's literally so hard to describe Milford Sound. Millions of waterfalls cascading down an ever narrowing strait of mountains, it's one of the most unique places I've ever been in my life. It also is pretty tough to photograph well, especially while out on a boat in like 70 mph winds, but we did our best. The drive in is truly mind boggling - one of the most surreal experiences I've ever had, which made having a car and being able to go at our own pace even more important.

There are only a couple places to get food once you're in the Fiord, and Pio Pio at Milford Sound Lodge definitely hit the spot! It was a great way to start the day with a hot breakfast.

Okay so here's where we hit some bad luck. We wanted to kayak to experience Milford, and Rosco's is THE best company to do it through as the OGs of kayaking Milford (our Airbnb host was also a Rosco kayak guide). But, it was just too windy to make it happen. They gave us a quick refund, which we appreciated. A couple other kayak companies still sent their tours out, and we could see how miserable it was, and that they didn't actually get to complete their trip.

I don't remember if our cruise was Real Journeys or not, but our guide from Rosco's gave us the low down - they're all the same, so choose either the cheapest one, or if they're close, the one that leaves the soonest. Regardless, it was an incredible experience to get as close to the Tasman Sea as we did. Be careful being outside on the boat - it's hella windy and insanely choppy. Don't do this is you are prone to seasickness at all.

There's also a gift shop here - it's the only place to get food near where the boats dock. All I can remember is French fries - we were so cold after a rainy hike that hot food was all we could dream of.

There are so many awesome spots to stop on the drive in and out, and someone at Milford Sound Lodge or at the boat depot either has a guide or a website that lists them all. But, the one that stood out the most to us was The Chasm Walk. This is one of the places tour busses stop, so it's a little more crowded than most of the other stops, but totally worth it!