Stunning Fiordland National Park and Milford Sound

We ventured off early in the morning and drove 2 ½ hours to Fiordland National Park. It’s the largest National Park in New Zealand (approx 31.5 million acres). Absolutely gorgeous! It’s full of snow tipped mountains, lush vegetation (including a rain forest), lakes, streams and waterfalls. Breathtaking!! We stopped at two amazing places along the way.

The first stop was to Mirror Lake. A small lake with a wooden walkway that took you through the woods and along the lake that was filled with moss covered trees, ferns, and lush vegetation. The small “mirror lake” was exactly that! It had the reflections of the distant mountains and puffy clouds reflecting from the water. It was so beautiful.

We then went to “The Chasm” which was a small hike through a rainforest that passed by a powerful water fall with a bubbling stream. Great ferns and tree’s were in abundance.

We were lucky to see a “Kea” bird which is a native bird (about the size of a large parrot). It likes to chew on rubber (windshield wipers and tires).

We then arrived at our boat which cruised through Milford Sound. OMG!!… it was awesome!! We saw pods of dolphins jumping next to our boat, little penguins on the rocks off the shore, fuzzy seals sunning themselves on the rocks and giant waterfalls hitting the sound right next to our boat. We rode for about 2 ½ hours and every minute flew by.

Eight of us elected to take a 45 minute flight on a small Cessna (Air Fiordland) to our next hotel in Queensland versus a 5 hour bus ride. The flight took us over areas of the Park that are inaccessible by foot. The views were inexplicable and unfortunately pictures do them no justice. It was almost overwhelming!