When we planned out little JWalking trip to the other side of the world the one thing we were a little concerned about was Christmas.

Christmastime for our family has always been very special and we were worried that any attempt to have Christmas away would just result in us being sad and missing our boys. So we decided we had to do something completely different that was incomparable. We booked an overnight cruise on Milford Sound for Christmas Day.

Milford Sound is a fjord in the south west of New Zealand. It is 15 kilometres long, runs to the Tasman Sea, and is surrounded by 4000 feet high rock faces on both sides. It has often been voted as the worlds number one must see place and unofficially called the eighth wonder of the world. It is very remote and only accessible by a 2 hour drive down a single road running from a town called Te Anau. There are no garages en route and no mobile phone coverage at all. It’s remote.

Setting off Christmas morning we made another awe-inspiring journey down valleys and around mountains. Unbelievably beautiful everywhere. Then towards the end of the journey we arrived at the Homer Tunnel. This is an incredible one way tunnel through sheer rock that drops down a 1 in 10 slope for nearly a mile. The tunnel isn’t lined so it seems like you are driving through a long dark cave. Brilliant. Short descent down into Milford Sound on the other side.

So the plan was to board the ship, The Milford Mariner, at around 4pm and then spend the rest of the day and following morning aboard. We had a nice little cabin with ensuite facilities and an evening meal and breakfast were provided. The Mariner is run by Real Journeys in Queenstown and we’d like to say a big thank you to Malc, our Airbnb host there, for helping us to book the trip all those months ago.

Now I’m not going to say too much about the trip, I am going to let the photos do the talking. It just seemed to be an indescribable place that I just couldn’t do justice to. All I will say is that we both loved every second and it may well be the most amazing thing that we have ever done in our lives. That’s how good it was!

The Real Journeys crew were immense, especially Forrest and Blair. We kayaked and swam in the icy cold water, first in and last out obviously. Great food. Fabulous stargazing. We saw so many seals and dolphins. Last to bed and then first up next morning, of course. There are so many stories I could tell now but they will have to wait until you ask us in person.

Milford Sound. Unbelievable.

25/12/2015