Fiordland & Milford Sound

Best time to visit Fiordland & Milford Sound

October to April is peak season: the Milford Road is open, boats run daily, tracks are accessible. Behind that sits the rain. Milford Sound takes over 7 metres of rainfall a year and can rain in any season, sometimes for days. That does not ruin a day, it improves it: after heavy rain, hundreds of extra waterfalls pour off walls that are dry in sunshine. Given the choice, take a rainy day with breaking cloud over a clear blue one. February is statistically the driest month; December and January the busiest. From June to August the Milford Road closes regularly for avalanche risk, sometimes for hours, sometimes for days. Checking the NZ Transport Agency road status before you set off is part of planning then, not an abundance of caution.

Te Anau as your base

Te Anau has 2,500 residents and is the last town with a supermarket, fuel and a garage before the fjord. Almost everyone heading to Milford sleeps here. Plan two nights: one for the drive to the Sound, one as a buffer in case the weather or the road does not cooperate.

Campsites in town start around 45 NZD for two, there are several, and in January they are full. Freedom camping is restricted within the township; the DOC campsites on the Kepler Track and along Lake Te Anau are the cheaper and nicer option at 8 to 15 NZD per person.

If you want something for the evening: the Te Anau Glowworm Caves are reached only by boat across the lake, around 110 NZD for two hours. The caves are small but the glowworms denser than at Waitomo, and the crossing is part of it.

• Last fuel before Milford, 244 kilometres return with none in between
• Plan two nights so one bad-weather day is survivable
• Book the boat trip ahead, weeks in advance in peak season
• Mobile coverage ends just past Te Anau and returns only at Milford
• Sandflies: buy repellent before you leave town, not after

The Milford Road

The drive is not an approach, it is part of the destination. 122 kilometres through beech forest, across open grass flats, and finally into a valley with vertical walls. Without stops it is 2.5 hours; with the stops worth making, 4 to 5. Leave Te Anau at 7am and you have the road to yourself and arrive before the Queenstown buses.

The Mirror Lakes reflect the Earl Mountains, but only when the air is still and best between 7 and 8am. By 10am there are enough people on the boardwalk that the water never settles. The Chasm Walk just before the tunnel takes 20 minutes and shows what a river does to solid rock.

The Homer Tunnel is 1.2 kilometres long, single-lane, unlit and drops steeply towards the fjord. Traffic lights control the alternating flow, and in summer you wait 10 to 20 minutes. Stop on the Milford side: kea, the world's only alpine parrots, wait there for inattention. Feeding is prohibited, and they dismantle rubber seals with real enthusiasm.

Which boat trip?

Around 20 operators run trips, from boats carrying over a hundred people to small nature tours with 12 to 30. Two hours is plenty; the boat goes out to the Tasman Sea and back, and there is no more fjord than that. Prices run from 80 to 165 NZD.

The difference lies less in the boat than in the departure time. Between 11am and 2pm the coach groups from Queenstown are on the water and everything is full. The first departure of the morning and the last of the afternoon are far quieter and often cheaper.

One detail that matters: the boats nose right up to the waterfalls, and anyone standing forward on deck gets soaked. Take a rain jacket on board even in sunshine.

Our tip: Doubtful Sound over Milford

Milford is the better known fjord; Doubtful is the better one. It is three times as long, ten times the area, and because no road reaches it, only a fraction of the visitors do. Anyone who has stood on a boat in the middle of it while the engines are cut and nobody speaks understands the difference immediately.

Getting there is the price: boat from Manapouri across Lake Manapouri, then a bus over the Wilmot Pass, then the fjord vessel. Around 7 to 8 hours for the day trip at 300 to 350 NZD per person. Overnight trips on board cost considerably more and are the most impressive thing the region offers.

With one day, take Milford, no question. With two days in Te Anau and a decision to make, it is worth knowing the alternative exists. Most people only hear about it once they are home.

Walks and campsites in the park

The Milford Track is one of the best-known Great Walks in the world, 53.5 kilometres over four days, and the huts often sell out a year ahead for the October to April season. Without long-range planning you will not get a bed.

The Kepler Track starts at Te Anau and can be walked in sections as a day trip. The climb to Luxmore Hut and back takes 5 to 6 hours and gives you the view over the whole lake without booking a hut at all.

Along the Milford Road are several DOC campsites at 8 to 15 NZD per person, including Cascade Creek and Lake Gunn. They are basic and well placed. One warning: sandflies. In Fiordland they are a genuine plague, biting from morning to night, and arriving without repellent is something you regret inside the first hour.