As part of moving to Wanaka, James and I were excited to finally tick the Milford Sounds off our bucket list. For about a month, I checked the weather forecast every day in hope there would be a rare sunny day in the Fiordlands, for us to visit. At last there was a sunny day and I quickly booked our cruise and accommodation. We decided to do the trip over two days, staying the night in Te Anau on the first night and driving to Milford Sounds the next morning.

We left Wanaka at 10:00am on Sunday morning and started our journey to Te Anau. We were about an hour in when a rock came flying at our car windshield and formed two decent cracks. Even more unfortunately, all the glass repair shops were closed because it was a Sunday. After desperately calling around, we managed to find Dan from Astrofix who kindly fixed it for us even though it was his day off. On we headed to Te Anau and finally arrived at 3:00pm. By this point the weather had taken a drastic turn and the road to Milford Sounds was closed due to snow. They were hoping to have it opened by the next morning however my once so sunny weather was now looking rainy and cold. Feeling a bit defeated we went to sleep and hoped the road would open and the weather forecast would be wrong. James and I had a terrible sleep that night, the wind rattled our door so loudly and the fridge in our room kept making weird noises. The room itself was nice and modern but a good sleep beats that all.

The next morning we woke up early and waited for an update. The road was set to open at 9:00am so we got ready and headed on our way. I had planned out everything I wanted to stop and look at on the way to Milford, but I was also wary that we had to be ready for our cruise at 1:30pm.

One of our first stops was at the Mirror Lakes, which is known for its reflections of the surrounding mountains. The sky was very grey with low hanging clouds, so our reflection was not as clear as I had seen in pictures, but it was still breathtakingly beautiful.

We stopped at a lookout and two friendly Kea came to say hello. They flew onto our car and much to my horror one of them started eating the rubber bits off the roof racks. James thought this was hilarious, as I’m yelling at him to shoo them away. I tried to drive the car forward in hope they would fly away, but instead it grabbed onto my car antenna and started to tug it off. Eventually James listened to my desperate cries for help and removed the Kea from the car.

As we travelled further into the fiordlands, it started snowing, creating a winter haven. Snow blanketed the mountains in a white cloak as we took Homer Tunnel straight into the mountainside. It is amazing going through one side of the mountain and coming out the other side in completely different scenery.

The drive to Milford Sounds took us 3 hours with all the photo stops. When we arrived, it was pouring with rain and I felt sad because I thought the cruise would be ruined. We stayed in the car for 30 minutes waiting in anticipation for the rain to stop. To my luck the clouds started to clear and the sun came out. We went for a walk around the foreshore track to the famous swing with Mitre Peak standing in all its glory.

At last we got on our cruise with Southern Discoveries. We managed to get an amazing deal through Bookme, with 60% off the retail price. It also included a picnic lunch and access to the underwater observatory. What amazed me the most, was the amount of waterfalls. Everywhere you look there is water running down the sheer rockface. Milford Sounds is surrounded my steep mountains, that drop off vertically, creating quite an impressive view. I can see why people say it is one of the most beautiful places on earth. We even got to witness waterfall rainbows which was beautiful.

Milford Sounds has glacial mountains, which is why they are so tall and steep. In the ice ages when the glaciers melted, it took huge chunks of rock off the mountains, creating vertical cliff drops. Due to it being winter, snow covered the mountaintops, giving depth and layers to its peaks.

We were incredibly lucky on our cruise and got to see lots of animals. We saw the rare fiordland crested penguins sunbathing on the rocks, and bottlenose dolphins swam alongside our boat. We also saw some NZ fur seals curled up asleep in the shade. When visiting the underwater observatory, our guide showed us extremely rare black coral only found in the Milford Sounds, and lots of different fish species. The cool thing about the observatory is that all the fish who visit, choose to be there and can come and go as they please.

The cruise lasted 3 hours and was an amazing experience. We started our journey home to Wanaka and arrived at 10:30pm. It was a very long day but The Milford Sounds took my breath away at every corner and I am very thankful to be able to experience that beautiful wonder.