Milford Sound overnight cruise

We just came back from an exhausting overnight cruise at the beautiful Milford Sound with Real Journeys. Our guide

who was also our bus driver, Gavin was very informative and friendly. Our trip was all up about 5 hours, the bus was

semi comfi for regular size people, being tall for poor Waynie doesn't help. The bus had huge windows on the roof

which allowed us to see the amazing scenery on the way, We jumped on the bus at around 8:30am Wednesday heading

towards our first stop at Kingston, situated at the bottom of lake wakatipu where there is an old steam train and

station worth around 1.2 million if anyone is interested in buying it :P Wayne's dream of course.
Next up we had a very small short break at five rivers, cute little cafe with a gorgrous backyard.

We had a few stops and you realise you're in NZ when you get stopped by a flock of 2000 sheep on the road!!! one stop worth mentioning is mirror lakes, I guess it's quite self explanatory. The lake is like a

mirror, in the back of the lake there is a sign that says 'Mirror Lakes' but it's written backwards and upside down

and can be read properly in the reflection of the water, pretty neat. We then stopped for lunch at Te Anau. They had

an awesome little pie shop, best pies ever! Steak and cheese and pasties mmmmmmm At that stage we were feeling

pretty tired but quite excited to get on the boat.

At around 4:30pm we boarded the Milford Mariner (our boat) and got in our cabins. The cabin and the beds were

actually quite comfy and it was good to have our own space. The crew and the skipper (driver of the boat) called us

up for a first meeting and they went through the saftey rules and we were off to Milford Sound. Out of excitment

everyone was taking photos and getting used to being on the ship. We saw some dolphins and seals and quite sure Farrah squealed a gazillion times, then we spent a while outside loving the fresh air.

When we got to Harrison Cove in Milford Sound, the skipper turned off the engine and that's where we stayed for the

night. We were given the opportunity to participate in outdoor activities and Wayne and I decided to do kayaking. It

was such a good experience to be able to kayak in the most beautiful surroundings, we wanted to stay there forever.


After about an hour and a half of exploring in the kayak we were called up to freshen up and be ready for dinner. We

got to sit with a Scottish Mum and her son travelling together and it was nice to be able to meet new people. The

crew were so lovely and the food was fabulous, they cooked us a huge buffet with lots of salads, roast and pasta

etc.

The night was finished with a presentation from the nature guide and he took us through some of his experiences and

travels around Milford Sound with great photos to accompany his stories.

The next day we had to be up at 7am for breakfast, also great buffet. The boat went by so many waterfalls, at one

point we came across a huge waterfall and the skipper decided to drive the boat right through the waterfall and the

poor people sitting outside at the front of the boat got extremely wet but surely they loved it. Shortly after that

we were off the boat around 9:30am and already on our way back to Queenstown.

We just got back and it's 3:30pm and no idea where we are going to get the energy to drive to Lake Tekapo tomorrow.
From now we are on our own, driving through South Island. We won't have much internet access, it all depends on

where we are staying and whether they have internet. But we'll try our best to keep you updated.


We've got some professional pics of us kayaking at the Milford Sound but you won't get to see that for another week

but for now here are a few snap shots of our cruise.

Lots of love,

Wayne and Farrah