As mentioned in the previous post, we took a day tour to Milford Sound from Te Anau. It would appear that tours option by Real Journeys are the more popular ones if you look them up online. However, we opted for a tour by another company - AwesomeNZ. The company name is a little on the tacky side but the lower cost won us over. Despite both include pick up from hotel option, AwesomeNZ is cheaper and even include free snackbox lunch. If you want other lunch options, you could pay a little more for that. However, the snackbox lunch provided is filling and not bad. :)

The tour departs from Queenstown, so by the time it reaches Te Anau to pick us up, the bus was almost full. We have very little option of seats and ended up not sitting together but that was only the bus ride bits.

It's Middle Earth views all the way, and the bus that we were in was a glass roff coach.. mm.. but of course, it also means the it could be warm when the sun shone through.



View from the bus side window.. not glass roof #1

View from the bus side window.. not glass roof #2

This bus tour included a stop at Mirror Lakes and Eglinton Valley before reaching Milfound Sound.

Mirror Lakes

In reality, it was not as serene, there were a few tour buses at that time and many, many tourists flocking to these Mirror Lakes, did the little walk on the boardwalk and boarded respectively buses again.




Edlington Valley



More Russell Lupine

Edlington Valley was the last stop, but of course superb view all along the road till we reached Milford Sound. Our driver let us know where to find him and the bus, and we went on our way, with two cards - one to get us onboard, the other to exchange for lunch.

Comes with complimentary coffee and tea too

Milfound Sound was beautiful, and to top it off, there were a couple of points during the cruise that made it even more worthwhile.




New Zealand Fur Seals sun baking on Seal Rock

This should be Stirling Falls

Side note: In Lonely Planet 1000 Ultimate Sights books - the one waterfall in NZ filed under Most Impressive Waterfalls is Sutherland Falls. It is near Milford Sound, but only accessible by hiking the 4 day, 53.5 km Milford Track.