Our First Sunny Day in Fiordland

Milford Sound

If you’ve only seen one picture of New Zealand, we’ll bet that it’s of Milford Sound. If you haven’t, see above. Similar to Doubtful Sound (mentioned a few posts ago…the cruise through the fjords in the pouring rain), Milford Sound is an expansive fjord in Fiordland National Park, famous for its towering, pointed peak, Mitre Peak. Like Doubtful, you explore Milford Sound via a cruise. The drive to Milford Sound is long, winding, and a bit sketchy, and while most cruise providers do offer coach buses from town, we elected to drive ourselves, which was fun because we got to stop at lookouts at our leisure and also stop for a hike in Fiordland after the boat ride.

On the sail out, there were low clouds lingering, so we didn’t see Mitre Peak, nor the peaks of most of the towering granite walls. It was still beautiful, and luckily as the day went on, the clouds cleared. There were a few grand waterfalls, some of which the boat drove right up to, so we could admire them up close (and also get soaked!). We also saw some Fiordland Crested Penguins, an endangered species and one of the rarest penguins in the world, only found in Fiordland and a southern island of NZ called Stewart Island. On the way back inland, the sun was shining and the striking Mitre Peak was in clear view. Overall, we had a great time sailing through Milford Sound and after our rainy tour of Doubtful Sound, were so grateful that we got a beautiful day for it!

Lake Marian Track

The Lake Marian Track is located in Fiordland, so we did this hike after Milford Sound. The trail was steep and rocky, although not a full-on scramble, and the way up was mostly through a shaded forest. Lake Marian, a beautiful alpine lake surrounded by mountains, was the endpoint. Some of the mountains were covered in waterfalls, a sight we found particularly beautiful as we’d noticed these mountainous falls on the drive to Milford Sound, but were now seeing them up close. We sat on the water’s edge for a while, finding the lake incredibly peaceful.

For more pictures, check out our Instagram, from_oakland_to_auckland, also linked below!