Milford Sound and Queenstown

We drove straight through Wanaka, Queenstown, and Te Anau toward Fiordland National Park. The Milford Highway lead us directly to the spectacular Milford Sound.


The Homer Tunnel is 2km long and barely two cars wide. During the day there is a stoplight for traffic to take turns going through. After 6pm the stoplights turn off so we had to go through very carefully. Also, there aren't any lights in the tunnel!


We camped at a campground 3km from the end of the road. The next morning we took the first boat out into the water. It was a 60 passenger boat with about 20 people on it. Milford Sound was very mystical. The clouds were hanging low, the water was smooth as glass, and the air was saturated with moisture.

At Milford Sound it rains 183 days a year. They get 7 meters of rain annually. They get so much rain that there is a layer of freshwater on top of the salt water.

Because of all the rain there were waterfalls everywhere!

This is the boat vibration in a cup of coffee. Cool, huh!

Latitude 45 degrees south of the equator.

After Milford Sound we continued our journey south to Invercargill. We found a Christmas Eve candle light service to go to. This photo was taken right before we went in for a 9:30pm service (notice that the sun is still setting).

Our Christmas Eve "candles" (glow sticks).

Merry Christmas! Our Christmas stockings in the van. Tasty licorice and chocolate!

We still believe in Santa Claus! We woke up to chocolate Santa lollies (candy) on the van Christmas morning. :)

On Christmas Day, on our way back to Queenstown, we visited The Remarkables ski field. The 13km, each way, dirt road led us to the field. There were 3 chairlifts and the entire ski field is above tree line.

Beautiful Lake Wakatipu. This is the view from downtown Queenstown. We stayed here for 8 days!

Adventure Time! We rode on the Shotover Jet up the Shotover river through the canyon. This jet boat can operate in as little as 10 cm of water. It pumps out 800 liters of water a second from both jets. And it turns around 360 degrees! Crazy fun.

Then we hiked up 1500 feet to get a wonderful view of the lake. For those less adventurous there is a gondola that will take you to the same location.

View of Queenstown from the top. Wow!

Happy New Year! Fireworks and drinks in downtown Queenstown with new friends.