Night on the water in Milford Sound

17 January 2018

The third and final night at Milford Sound before our second tramp was not spent in our chalet, but instead on the water with the Milford Mariner through Real Journeys. There are whole range of boat trips you can do in the Milford Sound ranging from 1 to 3 hours – but I guarantee you nothing beats leaving at 4.30pm, staying overnight and leaving at 9am the following day.

When it rains in Milford Sound hundreds of waterfalls just magically appear, it’s simply quite amazing how a huge cliff face can suddenly have a number of large waterfalls appear on it, some of which are 100's of meters tall. I have been so lucky with the weather on this trip as Milford Sound is the wettest place in NZ and apart from the odd drizzle it has not rained while I was walking the Milford Track - and then the night before I went by boat onto the Milford Sound itself it rained heavily so all the temporary waterfalls kicked into life for me to enjoy.

Outside our chalet in the pouring rain on the final morning, with temporary waterfalls that appeared overnight in the background.

The boat left at 4-30pm and we had to be out of our chalet by midday, so saying goodbye to our little luscious temporary home we got a lift to the Milford Sound ferry terminal with lots of time to spare.

So I used the time to have an explore while Julianne was reading in the ferry terminal. The explore did not take long as there is very little in Milford Sound itself – all the action happens out on the water.

The Milford Mariner, our home for the night.

Then we headed out on the water, firstly into our room – nice little cabin and dropped off our bags. Then the Milford Mariner went out into the Milford Sound and spent an hour exploring getting right up close and even under a couple of huge waterfalls – very cool and magical. I loved getting under the waterfalls, where Julianne not so keen.

Real Journeys offer 2 options for the next part of the trip - kayaking or exploring the coast by small boat.

My initial thoughts were that I wanted to go kayaking, but Julianne was didn't want to go kayaking so small boat it was.

I must say that the small boat is actually a much better option! A pile of us get into a small boat that dashs around the Sound getting close to some of the wildlife and having an explore – whereas those in the kayaks had to stay near the Milfrod Marienr simply for time.

View of the Milford Marienr from the water

Julianne enjoying the close up view of Milford Sound

On the way back to the Milford Mariner I managed to convince the driver of our boat to let me jump off so I could swim back to the Milford Mariner.

It really cold when I jumped in!! but I soon adjusted and now I can say I have swum in the Milford Sound! After I jumped in several other men on the boat followed me in.

Once I got on back on board, I quickly went back to my cabin for a lovely nice hot shower to warm up. Then straight after the shower it was up to have a dinner.

The next several hours were spent eating a lovely buffet dinner and talking with other people on the boat. You get allocated a table, and I was really pleased that I had a table with a window seat so I could enjoy watching the sun set as I ate my meal. Julianne had got us great seats while I was having my shower.

I couldn’t believe how this trip on the water overnight in Milford Sound has been so busy and non-stop since boarding at 4.30pm and I didn’t get to bed until after 10.

Amazing scenery, great activities, nice food and wine - great trip, well worth the money.

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Night on the water in Milford Sound