Milford Sound

milford sound is a fjord, so a deep long inlet from the sea created by glacial erosion. it's the biggest in NZ and most popular tourist attraction. its part of the Fiordland national park, which bigger than all the other national parks in NZ. its a 4 hour drive there, but there are many attractions along the way, and the bus driver says the law requires him to take a half hour break, and there are many photo opportunities along the way. tbh, i think going there is just as magnificent as the sights you see at milford sound.

the cruise is about $90pp (paid with frequent flyer points), we went with Real Journeys on their Nature Cruise. i think they're a super good company, since the bus has wifi! and also the coach has really large windows and a sky roof along the whole bus, and you can eat on the bus. passed some other coaches at other pit stops, and i heard they couldn't eat on the bus. since Hilton hotel is away from everyone else, a taxi came to pick us up to go to the bus station where we met up with the coach. oh, this was the morning my mum got lost in our hotel...i guess this hotel is different since its built on a hill, and the lobby is on level 4, but we stayed on level 2. there are only 7 levels, but my mum thought lobby was level 1 and obviously didn't read the labels next to the lift buttons so...

NZ sunrise in winter is after 8am, and we had to leave at 7am so it was super dark. also, this part of NZ doesn't have spectacular sunrise/sunsets since there are huge mountain everywhere

so many beautiful snow capped mountains. our bus driver gave really good commentary. a reason people shouldn't drive down there is because there's a lot of black ice along the way, so the bus driver actually has to make the effort to avoid inexperienced drivers along the way. super lucky to have sunny weather since it rains here 200 days a year, although they said when it rains its still as beautiful since the waterfalls gush more, but imo, it would be harder to take photos...

a bit after 8am

passed some little towns which were remnants of the gold rush. some towns had as little as 15 houses, and were really far from the coast. also saw a lot of sheep. nz sheep are so tiny. there were also cows and alpacas (according to the bus driver a hybrid of camels and sheep...), and also deer. deers in nz are a pest, so people can kill them if they wish.

Lake Te Anau-first pit stop, halfway there.

so peaceful and beautiful here. no reception from here to Milford Sound...but that didn't matter since wifi was mostly when the bus was dark and no scenery could be seen

1 degree weather. not that cold, i'm actually only wearing 2 layers.

there was this one cafe there and you think how they make business, but when at least 3 coach buses stop there and on the way back, then that's quite a lot of people...their toilets are so clean, actually generally NZ public toilets are cleaner than Syd. there were these other toilets where you had to pay $1 so i think those would be super super clean since no one would use them, but i think everyone just goes to the cafe, as long as you buy something. i forgot to mention, Sydney airport toilets once you past security have been upgraded! they can now compare to other international airports. everything i automatic, modern and super clean.

the bus roof

Mirror lakes, pit stop number 3. a 10 minute boardwalk

pit stop number 2 was a vast expanse of land with super tall mountains close to you on the sides.

here i had the most amazing water from the river. i now know what all those packaged bottled water mean when they saw "spring water". bottled/filtered/tap/mineral/boiled or any other type of water does not compare with fresh New Zealand water. it just has such a refreshing, cooling taste to it, and just makes you so happy. many people emptied there bottles here to fill up with pure nz water.

emerging from a tunnel which was built in the 1950s only by hand. probs can't tell, but it's really high up here. a van was parked here the day before and whilst the people were taking photos, the van rolled down the hill...so they had to wait for other cars to come by to pick them up, hence don't come here by yourselves. also the day before had blizzard like conditions. the tunnel is mainly to go through the high avalanche area. don't come here in September, you'll be buried in snow and no one will save you. they do some special snow bombings to make the avalanches a tad bit less dangerous...

Milford Sound!

the water is so emeraldy clear

saw dolphins and the weather was nice enough to see some seals. 

tasman sea. apparently the boat we were on could go to Aus in 3.5 days, and has enough fuel to go to Hawaii

much beauty

waterfall (:

Titre Peak 

its hard to take a photo from the beginning of the cruise since you have to go further back...hence no good typical shots"

the cruise was 2 hours (2.5hours in summer). i thought it would be super cold, but it wasn't really, probs because this day was unbelievably good weather. most of you would probs think going on a boat to look at mountains is boring, but there's just something to it that words and photos can't describe. the mountains are just so majestic <3

Lake Te Anau on the way back, only stop

got back at about 7.30pm. its surprising how a lovely coach affects the travel journey (: