Instead of driving our campervan the 4 plus hour one-way trip to get to Milford Sound from Queenstown we opted for the Mitre Peak coach-cruise-coach tour bus experience.  We met the bus in Queenstown at about 7am to begin our (very long) daytrip.  The luxury liner bus was very comfortable but unfortunately our driver seemed incredibly fond of hearing himself talk so we spent most of the morning listening to him saying things like:

"and on your left you will see the old Lake Wakitpu yes the old lake is pretty impressive....and next to the old lake you will see the old manuka bushes which can be recognized by the small white flowers on them..."

It went on and on but to his credit, he actually did have a few interesting stories about the history of the South Island.

We learned that President Roosevelt (an avid hunter) gave a gift of 20 Elk to New Zealand in 1909. After letting them run free up in the mountains, they multiplied rapidly and began to destroy the local bush. As this became a major problem, the NZ government decided to place a bounty on any deer killed. Eventually this lead to farming of the deer as they learned they could sell the meat and skin for leather as well as the antlers for medicinal reasons to certain Asian cultures. We actually passed quite a few deer farms on our trip and we often saw venison as a specialty item on the menu. Kingsley and I also had the opportunity to try some of the local venison on New Years Eve and found it to be very good.

The Possum was introduced in 1837 because people had killed off the majority of the seal population that New Zealand had. Before the arrival of humans a population of about 2 million fur seals inhabited New Zealand. The onset of European sealing for meat and pelts in the 1700s and 1800s pushed them to the brink of extinction. Since their protection in 1978 numbers have increased gradually. Current  population estimates are 50,000-60,000 fur seals. Anyway, they decided to bring this Possum in to help offset the fur seal trades. The possums here are very soft and reddish color, not the grey we find at home. After a lot of great trading happened initially and then animal activist started to get involved and protesting. At this point, the price of fur went lower, people stopped hunting them. With no natural predators in New Zealand the possum population has exploded and is still a big problem today. They are currently eating the vegetation faster than it can grow.


On the way to Te Anau (the bathroom break spot halfway to Milford Sound) we passed some beautiful lakes, snow covered mountains, green grassy farms with sheep and elk, and rough rocky terrain. We stopped in Te Anau for 30 minutes for a bathroom break and a quick cup of tea to warm up as the old bus driver liked to keep the bus pretty cold!



As we started up over the Divide, the point at where the Fiordland Mountains and the Southern Alps meet, we began to go through some absolutely breathtaking scenery. Glacier covered mountains with lakes at the base and amazingly green forests all around us.





With 182 days of rain every year, Milford Sound is one of the wettest places in New Zealand.  Thankfully although it had rained a ton the previous few days, it didnt rain a drop the day we were there.
After arriving in Milford Sound we hoped on the Mitre Peak Cruise Boat which took us on a 2.5 hour tour of the actual Sound and all the way out to the Tasman Sea. The winds were a little strong for the first part of the trip made for a very chilly ride if you were standing outside, so Kingsley and I found a cozy spot inside and enjoyed our self-packed picnic lunch. Most everyone else on the boat had opted for the pre-purchased lunch which looked pretty dismal in comparison to our smoked salmon, goat cheese, fresh fruit and chocolate picnic. After lunch the sun came out and the view was incredible.