While Greengo had a rest day, I booked a tour to Milford Sound. Although it is not too far away from Queenstown, it takes more than three hours on a bus because the only road leading to it makes a big detour. I was initially slightly put off by the long ride, considering the actual boat trip in the Sound was less than two hours.
The first couple of hours were ordinary: mountains, emerald pastures, lakes, nothing I hadn’t already seen. But when we entered Fiordland, the scenery changed and it became more dramatic, one of the most dramatic I ever have seen. I felt very small with mountains seemingly hanging over my head. Low clouds added to that effect.
We made a few stops before reaching Milford Sound.
And the dramatic effects didn’t stop there – the mountains were raising vertically out of the water and getting lost in the clouds.
Cruising around we saw a lone penguin and a small sea lion colony resting on rocks.
After all there was plenty of time on the boat and I am glad I went for this tour.
Today in numbers:
102nd – I ranked on Strava’s November distance challenge, out of 161318 participants
12607 km2 – size of Fiordland National Park
578 km – round trip to Milford Sound