12/29/2023
Today was our trip to Milford Sound. This was another one of my *must do* activities on this return trip to New Zealand. I remember it being one of the most magical places I had ever experienced, and well worth the 4 hour bus trip to get there.
This time we booked the trip well in advance, because we knew we wanted to take the bus in to Milford Sound, but fly back to Queenstown. This was for a number of reasons: the flight would be really cool, I didn’t want to hang out with my children on a bus for more than 4 hours in one day, that the flight would get us back to Queenstown much earlier than the bus.
The bus trip was lovely. We were able to snooze for an hour or so at the beginning, and then had a pit stop in Te Anua. After that the trip got a lot more interesting as you enter Fiordlands National Park. So we woke up to look out the window. The scenery is humbling; it gives you a perspective of the world that you can’t get anywhere else.
The boat tour down the sound included lunch, and then we went to the top deck for most of the rest of the trip.
For a place that is considered one of the wettest on earth, there was not a single drop of rain the entire day for us. We had the most gorgeous day possible, where we could see a second waterfall on top of and behind the first (I’ll try to point it out in pictures), the tops of all of the peaks and glaciers – basically everything. I shed a few emotional tears of joy and gratitude for this incredible place. I am so humbled to experience it a second time, and would go a third and a fourth. How do you get into a picture a place that is unimaginably big (I’m having a hard time finding the right word for this). It is as if humans are forbidden for good reason, and that earth commands our respect with its majesty.
The flight back out was equally humbling, although I felt like I was being given the keys to a secret kingdom of hidden alpine lakes and waterfalls and the opportunity to really see what is on top of those mountains. To walk on them, however, is still unimaginable.
John got to sit in the co-pilot seat on the 14 passenger plane, a dream come true for his flight-simulating side. He’s simulated the flight at home and finally got to live it for real. Milford sound is a bucket list airport for many. It’s a tiny airport that does TONS of traffic in and out each day. It was the most exciting and beautiful flight I have ever taken (and probably ever will).
This time we booked the trip well in advance, because we knew we wanted to take the bus in to Milford Sound, but fly back to Queenstown. This was for a number of reasons: the flight would be really cool, I didn’t want to hang out with my children on a bus for more than 4 hours in one day, that the flight would get us back to Queenstown much earlier than the bus.
The bus trip was lovely. We were able to snooze for an hour or so at the beginning, and then had a pit stop in Te Anua. After that the trip got a lot more interesting as you enter Fiordlands National Park. So we woke up to look out the window. The scenery is humbling; it gives you a perspective of the world that you can’t get anywhere else.
The boat tour down the sound included lunch, and then we went to the top deck for most of the rest of the trip.
For a place that is considered one of the wettest on earth, there was not a single drop of rain the entire day for us. We had the most gorgeous day possible, where we could see a second waterfall on top of and behind the first (I’ll try to point it out in pictures), the tops of all of the peaks and glaciers – basically everything. I shed a few emotional tears of joy and gratitude for this incredible place. I am so humbled to experience it a second time, and would go a third and a fourth. How do you get into a picture a place that is unimaginably big (I’m having a hard time finding the right word for this). It is as if humans are forbidden for good reason, and that earth commands our respect with its majesty.
The flight back out was equally humbling, although I felt like I was being given the keys to a secret kingdom of hidden alpine lakes and waterfalls and the opportunity to really see what is on top of those mountains. To walk on them, however, is still unimaginable.
John got to sit in the co-pilot seat on the 14 passenger plane, a dream come true for his flight-simulating side. He’s simulated the flight at home and finally got to live it for real. Milford sound is a bucket list airport for many. It’s a tiny airport that does TONS of traffic in and out each day. It was the most exciting and beautiful flight I have ever taken (and probably ever will).