Bowen Falls, Milford Sound, NZ

We woke to snow falling in Te Anau this morning, which, although pretty, was disappointing as today we were booked to do a cruise of the Milford Sound. Our sailing was meant to be at 11am, which meant that we had to leave Te Anau at 8.30am. However, the road to Milford was closed, and was due to be reviewed at 9am.

Speaking to the cruise that we booked with, they suggested we change our booking to 1pm, giving us enough time to get to Milford once the road opened.

In the end we decided to leave at 9.15am, so we could take our time and stop to take photos (as you do!) on the way. Electronic signs along the way advised that the road would open at 10am, but you must carry chains (which we were) and no towing vehicles.

It was snowing along the way, in places quite heavy, however the road was really good. We stopped at the Mirror Lakes, went for a walk, and took some photos. We also stopped on the way at 'The Chasm' to view a series of powerful waterfalls. This was a 20 minute walk, and was well worth while.

Heading to the Homer Tunnel was absolutely beautiful. Snow layered the landscape, and the roads were well graded and gritted. The Homer Tunnel is 1.2 km, goes through the mountain, and is controlled by traffic lights. We only had to wait 4 minutes at each end, which was long enough to get out and take some more photos.

We arrived at Milford Sound to absolutely no snow, with the sun shinning, it was hard to believe that we had just driven through these snowy conditions.

At 1pm we boarded the boat and spent the next hour and a half sailing through the beautiful Milford Sound. This is the Bowen Falls, one of many powerful waterfalls that we saw. At times it was very cold on the boat, especially for those like me that stayed outside on the top deck to take lots of photos.

We left Milford around 3pm, and retuned to Te Anau around 4.45pm.

We had a fantastic day, and highly recommend those in NZ and overseas to visit the Sound if they get the opportunity.