New Zealand Part 4, Milford Sound Fly Cruise Fly Tour

June 23, Monday

We slept in today, which was nice. Andrew called us at about 9:20 AM. We talked with him for about 40 minutes and then by 10 AM I said we needed to have a prayer and go to breakfast so we had a prayer with everybody on the call and then said our goodbyes. The hotel breakfast buffet at Crowne Plaza was awesome. There were plenty of choices for protein like eggs, bacon, and sausage, and they had things like pancakes and potatoes. They even had beans and fried rice. They also had croissants and danishes and all kinds of yogurts and fruit and toppings and so many choices.

We hurried and ate and went back upstairs to get everything we needed for our tour. I'm glad I didn't bring my backpack today because there wasn't any place to leave it and I would've had to carry it around all day long so it was better to just have my triple zip purse. The tour bus picked us up at our hotel a little after 11 AM and they did a couple more pick ups and took us to the office for the tour company, True South.

This is the view outside of our hotel. 

Pretty mountains on the way to our tour

They made us all get on a scale but thankfully they didn't tell us what the number was because they wanted us to be weighed while we carried all of our stuff, to make sure the plane could handle all the weight. She gave us some information about the day and then we walked over to the airport where the plane was. The pilot loaded us on front to back. 

Emily and Michael and I all sat in the middle so we had the wing of the plane and a little bar holding it up in our way but it wasn't too bad. Emily was in front of me and Michael was next to me. 

It was an absolutely breathtaking flight over the mountains! I took so many pictures because every view was so beautiful. I just couldn't believe we made it. All the planning we did and to see it come to fruition was awesome! 

There's a little town called Glenorchy in the middle of the mountains. I don't know how those people get the stuff they need but it was pretty cool. 

Michael saw a frozen lake on the top of the mountain on his side. I saw them on the way back. We saw multiple lakes on top of the mountains. 

We landed on the runway and then we waited for a bus ride over to the cruise terminal. 

I was so cold waiting for the boat. All the doors to the cruise terminal were open and then we had to stand outside and wait to get on the boat in the freezing cold. 

Map of Milford Sound

Pretty waterfall as we sailed away

We went up to the second level and Michael went all the way to the top. We kind of moved around. Sometimes Emily and I were inside, sometimes we were on the top with Michael. He was up there pretty much the whole time. It was a wonderful place to view everything but it was also freezing and windy. It was 35°F so it was almost freezing. It was so beautiful going down the fjord. We took so many pictures!

For part of the time, I was on the second level sitting on a little bench right by the window. I was so happy just sitting there and watching the beauty pass by. I took a lot of pictures and just enjoyed the ride. These waterfall pictures were taken from inside the boat.  

These were taken on the top level of the boat.

If you look closely, you can see a seal on that rock. It's actually called Seal Rock.

 

Here is a closeup.

This was the smallest waterfall.

Some snacks we bought on the boat

One of my favorite parts was when we passed Sterling Falls. The driver told us facts about things as we were on the cruise. He told us that Milford Sound is the only place in the southern hemisphere where you can see a river, fjord, rainforest, and glacier in the same place. He also told us that the pilots call one area the "elevator" because there's so much lift that it helps the airplanes get up in the air. I asked the pilot about it later, and he was surprised that the driver told us about it and confirmed that it's true. The cruise driver also said that at Sterling Falls, the legend is that if you get sprayed with the water that it will take 10 years off your complexion. I thought that sounded silly but I also thought it would be fun to go up there so I did. He also said that the legend doesn't work if you're wearing a hat, sunglasses, or gloves. Michael was wearing a hat and I was wearing one glove. I had been wearing sunglasses earlier but not at that time. We decided he was making that up, lol. We got lots of pictures and it was so cool to see the waterfall up so close! I was especially cold, and the mist of water landing on me didn't help. 

I went back inside and found a place to sit and proceeded to shiver the rest of the time. Michael and Emily came down. Michael looked so cold but he had fun up there. We went up to the top one last time for the last waterfall. 

We got off the ship and used the bathroom and got right on the bus and went back to the plane. I had asked the pilot if we could have a different seat on the way back so he put us toward the back of the plane. I was in the very back and Michael and Emily were right in front of me. The view was so nice from back there and I didn't have the wing blocking my view nearly as much. He went back a slightly different route. 

It was a phenomenal trip and I'm so glad we got to do it! We landed and got a picture in front of the plane and got right on the shuttle bus and the driver took us back to our hotel. 

We debated on whether we should go back to the hotel room or go straight to dinner and we finally decided to go straight to dinner so I told the shuttle driver if he wanted he could drop us off at the restaurant which seemed like it would be easier and he agreed that it was so that's what we did. We went straight to Finz Seafood and Grill. It was around 5 PM when we got there so there was hardly anybody in the restaurant so we got a table pretty easily. That's exactly what I had hoped would happen since we didn't have a reservation. We had a very nice dinner and our table was right by the window so we were looking out on the lake and the mountains and the beautiful sunset. 

All three of us ordered the same thing: Southland blue cod fish and chips. I actually got the mashed potatoes instead of fries but I tried a couple of their fries and they were good but the mashed potatoes were amazing. We also got pork and shrimp gyoza which Emily really loved and it was really good. We enjoyed our dinner. 

We asked the waiter what was the "fountain of cones." It was on the map. It turned out it was just this little statue with some traffic cones in it. It's some sort of fun tradition that they have here. They take out the cones and then people put more in there. If you look to the right on this picture, you can see the "fountain of cones." The cones are collected on top. 

This area is called the Steamer Wharf and there are multiple nice restaurants and shops. It is located right across the street from our hotel.

I also asked what he recommended for getting a treat and he said Patagonia and we looked it up and it said Patagonia Chocolate and it looked amazing but it was pretty underwhelming. We were freezing cold walking over there. I couldn't find anything I wanted to eat. I got a kid size coconut stracciatella ice cream and a chocolate chip cookie. Emily got chocolate ice cream and a cone and Michael got dulce de leche and milk and cookies. We all agreed that the United States does ice cream way better than the rest of the world. My chocolate chip cookie was horrible. It was small and flat and hard so I only took a couple bites and threw the rest out. 

We walked back to the hotel and stopped at a souvenir shop but I couldn't find any magnets so we just went to the hotel. We've been relaxing and now it's time to get ready for bed. Thankfully, I had a couple caramel slices left over to make up for the bad chocolate chip cookie. 

I will never forget this day. Milford Sound was absolutely incredible and this trip has been a dream come true!