That's a beautiful part of the South Island and your filming certainly shows it off well, and my memories of Milford Sound on my first visit were of our aircraft developing a fault which necessitated us staying overnight. We managed to convince one of the launches to take the six of us on a cruise and I recall the cliffs going straight down into the sea and the many waterfalls. The one downer was all the sandflies we had to endure as our aircraft was fixed the following day before we could head back to home in the North Island.
I feel like our weather was pretty perfect, had both some rain and the sun shining! We would have to say that Milford Sound is probably the most beautiful landscape we've ever seen. Those sand flies though lol! 🤣
I have lived in New Zealand for over 40 years having moved from the Ireland and the Uk. I have to say how much I enjoy your blogs on trips around the country and see what you think about my beautiful adopted country. Love your style and grace, such a nice couple, thank you for sharing and looking forward to viewing them all.
Thankyou so much for your awesome vids travelling the beauty of the South island. I'm kiwi an unfortunately have not been to the sth island but I know have that on my to do bucket list when I move back permanently. The views are incredibly peacefully untouched. My heart flutters watching you two. Thankyou so much. Enjoy & stay safe
@@anaherararu8191 Me too! Embarrassing that tourists are taking us around our own country!! 🤣😂 ...but they're such nice people so we're enjoying the ride! Thanks Abs and Wi (they my bros) 😆
@@musicmad67 I know right. Thoroughly enjoyed watching these two. So informative & went with the flow whenever they had no plans. God bless New Zealand, Aotearoa
I love your videos! My husband and I are trying to decide between 2 nights at Milford Lodge with a sunrise kayak tour or on an overnight cruise. Which did you prefer? How much time did you get kayaking on the overnight cruise?
Hi guys, I've watched every NZ video I can find to help plan a road trip for 2022, and honestly I think yours are the best, at least for the way my husband and I travel. I have a couple of questions if you don't mind sharing your thoughts?. We've decided against Doubtful Sound for logistical reasons, but if you could only do Milford Sound and pick one way to do it, would you do 1) Overnight cruise with Fiordland Discovery, 2) Overnight cruise with RealJourneys on a ship similar to your Doubtful Sound cruise (is the 1/3 of the cost worth the savings or should we go big?) or 3) Two nights at the lodge and a day cruise on Milford Sound.
Thank you so much for the encouragement! That is so exciting for you guys! We talked about your question and both agree 100%, you all should do the two nights at the lodge and a day cruise option. Here's our thoughts: The Fiordland Discovery was awesome and the crew/accommodation/food was fantastic but you run the risk of having 'bad' weather if that's your only night and you really need to see Milford Sound in all it's glory! The RealJourneys ship, same argument and an added one that if it's anything like the Doubtful Sound cruise ship we went on, it's a bit dated, so the extra money on the Fiordland Discovery would be worth it to us at least. Which brings us to our pick, staying at the lodge...gives you a much better chance of having one day of perfect weather to see Milford Sound. Also, there is so much to see around that area. Just pull the car over and enjoy a short hike and scenery, it really is just breathtaking. If you saw from our video though, we suggest bringing food with you as the only option for food is the restaurant at the lodge and their food is good, but they have a small menu and it's pricey. Hope that helps! You all will have a blast! Please keep us updated, we'd love to know what you all decide and how it goes! Abbie is asking if you all are on Instagram to keep up with your travels?
@@AbbieandWiebe Thank you thank you thank you. That's a tremendous help. I did know that there wasn't anywhere to eat up there, and we'll have a cooler in the car with us, so we'll stock up in Te Anu, That was part of my thought process on a cruise. That they would feed us. I will have many more questions along the way and will ask under the appropriate video. My itinerary is fairly sketched out, but I've been so stuck around Fiordland. We currently hope to overnight in Te Anu (this was really to position for an afternoon ship departure time) and then after the cruise drive all the way to Wanaka. It will be a long travel day, but I think okay? It's a bit past Queenstown. I will likely rethink if we just stay at the lodge, which I'm inclined to now do. Oh, I do have one other question. When they say a bed is a Queen, is it a true American Queen, or more like a Full? Or is a 'double' really a Full like in Europe? Also, my sister, who has watched all the videos with me, would like to tell you that she got a huge kick out of your chicken flavored chip love. When she and I travel together outside the US, one of our favorite things is unique potato chip flavors - we seek them out. One of our favorites was paprika Lay's in Turkey. Ditto local soft drink brands/flavors. I don't do Instagram, I have an old fashioned travel blog that I set up for my mom and other family to follow so I didn't have to keep sending emails from the road. It would probably not interest you unless you want to plan a road trip to Romania, Spain/Portugal, the Pacific Northwest, or American Southwest or want to visit Cappadocia. Everything else is River Cruises and stuff like that. amytravelsweb.com I could never take quality video and edit it in the way that you guys are able to. You really do a great job.
@@acreinhard Ask us anything and we'll be glad to try and help! It sounds like you're skipping Queenstown? That is such a fun town and beautiful setting we definitely recommend at least one day there! As for the bed size, I believe the Queen size is a true Queen size. We love looking at all the different flavors of food at the grocery stores as well, too funny! Hey those sound like great trips! We want to see and experience it all some day so we'll check it out! Thanks again!
@@AbbieandWiebe Hi guys, we're actually going to spend five days in Queenstown before heading to Milford Sound. Originally the plan was to drive to Te Anu from Queenstown, spend the night, and leave late morning for a leisurely drive up to MS to catch the ship. We'd drive back on a long long day past Queenstown to Wanaka afterwards. Not sure about all that if we stay at MS, but the Queenstown part is already booked.
You guys got me and the wife hooked on your videos! Can't wait to see more! By the way, how much would such a month long vacation with about the same itinerary set us back?
Thanks so much for the comment! We really appreciate the support and I'm so glad to hear that you are enjoying the videos! For everything, including the flight from Oklahoma, all the side excursions, and eating out every meal, we spent around $16,000 USD. We saved for a long time and dreamed about the trip for years so we decided not to hold back and just go all in. In total we were there for 28 days and we had an unexpected expense leading to a detour trip before we were able to make it home. I don't want to spoil it but we will make a video about what happened. This trip could be done for a lot less though with budgeting. Wiebe thinks it could be done for around $12,000. We are hoping to put together a website in the near future and on it we will include an itinerary and budget breakdown.
@dropy555 right next to the boat terminal where all the bus parking is. They reserve a couple bus spots specifically for the overnight cruise and all of you just stack your cars in those spots. They send you instructions for that with the bus parking spot numbers to park in 😊
Lol yeah nah keas are cute, but are destructive as well. They will strip rubber from around the windscreen as fast as they can, they love windscreen wipers, they will steal your food off your plate in a blink of the eye.
I love your videos! My husband and I are trying to decide between 2 nights at Milford Lodge with a sunrise kayak tour or on an overnight cruise. Which did you prefer? How much time did you get kayaking on the overnight cruise?
@corrinekeehan that is so sweet! Thank you! So we discussed your question and both of us think you all should do the Milford Lodge for 2 nights. Although the overnight cruise was amazing, you only get about an hour for kayaking. And there’s so much more to see around Milford Sound that you’d be able to see if you stayed in the area longer! A sunrise kayak tour sounds amazing! We’re so excited for you all! Whichever you choose, we think you’ll love it! ❤️
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That's a beautiful part of the South Island and your filming certainly shows it off well, and my memories of Milford Sound on my first visit were of our aircraft developing a fault which necessitated us staying overnight. We managed to convince one of the launches to take the six of us on a cruise and I recall the cliffs going straight down into the sea and the many waterfalls. The one downer was all the sandflies we had to endure as our aircraft was fixed the following day before we could head back to home in the North Island.
I feel like our weather was pretty perfect, had both some rain and the sun shining! We would have to say that Milford Sound is probably the most beautiful landscape we've ever seen. Those sand flies though lol! 🤣
I was there about 8 years ago on the Dawn Princess. Beautiful sunny weather ,calm seas, no wind
Awesome! I bet that was an amazing trip!
Your vlogs are wonderful, so happy watching you both.
That is so kind! Thank you so much for the encouragement!
We stayed overnight too, an experience we will never forget! Great video guys 😊
Awesome! It’s such an amazing experience and fantastic food! 😊
Thank you! 🥰
I have lived in New Zealand for over 40 years having moved from the Ireland and the Uk. I have to say how much I enjoy your blogs on trips around the country and see what you think about my beautiful adopted country. Love your style and grace, such a nice couple, thank you for sharing and looking forward to viewing them all.
That's so kind of you! Thank you so much for the comment and the encouragement!
Thankyou so much for your awesome vids travelling the beauty of the South island. I'm kiwi an unfortunately have not been to the sth island but I know have that on my to do bucket list when I move back permanently. The views are incredibly peacefully untouched. My heart flutters watching you two. Thankyou so much. Enjoy & stay safe
@@anaherararu8191 That is so kind of you! It really is one of the most beautiful places on Earth! Thank you for the support and stay safe! ❤
@@anaherararu8191 Me too! Embarrassing that tourists are taking us around our own country!! 🤣😂 ...but they're such nice people so we're enjoying the ride! Thanks Abs and Wi (they my bros) 😆
@@musicmad67 I know right. Thoroughly enjoyed watching these two. So informative & went with the flow whenever they had no plans. God bless New Zealand, Aotearoa
Such a fun trip! We need to plan a Milford Sound cruise sometime soon!
Yes, I hope you do! It was wonderful!
absolutely gorgeous; and Abbie, I need for you to plan our trip next time. I love your accounting methods!!
HAHA!! Ok, deal! 😂😂
Liked it from second 1, been there, liked it and wnt to come back...... great show guys.. realy showed Kiwi Land as it is... marvelous
Thank you so much! Isn't Milford Sound incredible? We think it's probably the most epic scenery we've ever seen on any travels!
@@AbbieandWiebe It sure is
Wow so cool!!!!! We may just have to do that overnight cruise when we head there soon!!
Definitely!! It was amazing!
looks like a land lost in time waiting for the dinosaurs to walk out of the bush
Oh yes! It’s such a beautiful place! I could picture a dinosaur walking out lol!
Around and around the roundabout we go.. is there anyone in New Zealand who has NOT done that? 🤣😂
HAHA. Roundabouts are so much fun! 🤣
nice video .Was not aware they offer such experience there ..
Thanks so much for the support! It was a great trip!
I love your videos! My husband and I are trying to decide between 2 nights at Milford Lodge with a sunrise kayak tour or on an overnight cruise. Which did you prefer?
How much time did you get kayaking on the overnight cruise?
Abbie also wanted me to add that we would love to hear how your experience was and to keep us updated! ❤️
Love your travel vids.
Thank you so much!
Hi guys, I've watched every NZ video I can find to help plan a road trip for 2022, and honestly I think yours are the best, at least for the way my husband and I travel. I have a couple of questions if you don't mind sharing your thoughts?. We've decided against Doubtful Sound for logistical reasons, but if you could only do Milford Sound and pick one way to do it, would you do 1) Overnight cruise with Fiordland Discovery, 2) Overnight cruise with RealJourneys on a ship similar to your Doubtful Sound cruise (is the 1/3 of the cost worth the savings or should we go big?) or 3) Two nights at the lodge and a day cruise on Milford Sound.
Thank you so much for the encouragement! That is so exciting for you guys! We talked about your question and both agree 100%, you all should do the two nights at the lodge and a day cruise option. Here's our thoughts: The Fiordland Discovery was awesome and the crew/accommodation/food was fantastic but you run the risk of having 'bad' weather if that's your only night and you really need to see Milford Sound in all it's glory! The RealJourneys ship, same argument and an added one that if it's anything like the Doubtful Sound cruise ship we went on, it's a bit dated, so the extra money on the Fiordland Discovery would be worth it to us at least. Which brings us to our pick, staying at the lodge...gives you a much better chance of having one day of perfect weather to see Milford Sound. Also, there is so much to see around that area. Just pull the car over and enjoy a short hike and scenery, it really is just breathtaking. If you saw from our video though, we suggest bringing food with you as the only option for food is the restaurant at the lodge and their food is good, but they have a small menu and it's pricey. Hope that helps! You all will have a blast! Please keep us updated, we'd love to know what you all decide and how it goes! Abbie is asking if you all are on Instagram to keep up with your travels?
@@AbbieandWiebe Thank you thank you thank you. That's a tremendous help. I did know that there wasn't anywhere to eat up there, and we'll have a cooler in the car with us, so we'll stock up in Te Anu, That was part of my thought process on a cruise. That they would feed us. I will have many more questions along the way and will ask under the appropriate video. My itinerary is fairly sketched out, but I've been so stuck around Fiordland. We currently hope to overnight in Te Anu (this was really to position for an afternoon ship departure time) and then after the cruise drive all the way to Wanaka. It will be a long travel day, but I think okay? It's a bit past Queenstown. I will likely rethink if we just stay at the lodge, which I'm inclined to now do. Oh, I do have one other question. When they say a bed is a Queen, is it a true American Queen, or more like a Full? Or is a 'double' really a Full like in Europe? Also, my sister, who has watched all the videos with me, would like to tell you that she got a huge kick out of your chicken flavored chip love. When she and I travel together outside the US, one of our favorite things is unique potato chip flavors - we seek them out. One of our favorites was paprika Lay's in Turkey. Ditto local soft drink brands/flavors. I don't do Instagram, I have an old fashioned travel blog that I set up for my mom and other family to follow so I didn't have to keep sending emails from the road. It would probably not interest you unless you want to plan a road trip to Romania, Spain/Portugal, the Pacific Northwest, or American Southwest or want to visit Cappadocia. Everything else is River Cruises and stuff like that. amytravelsweb.com I could never take quality video and edit it in the way that you guys are able to. You really do a great job.
@@acreinhard Ask us anything and we'll be glad to try and help! It sounds like you're skipping Queenstown? That is such a fun town and beautiful setting we definitely recommend at least one day there!
As for the bed size, I believe the Queen size is a true Queen size. We love looking at all the different flavors of food at the grocery stores as well, too funny!
Hey those sound like great trips! We want to see and experience it all some day so we'll check it out! Thanks again!
@@AbbieandWiebe Hi guys, we're actually going to spend five days in Queenstown before heading to Milford Sound. Originally the plan was to drive to Te Anu from Queenstown, spend the night, and leave late morning for a leisurely drive up to MS to catch the ship. We'd drive back on a long long day past Queenstown to Wanaka afterwards. Not sure about all that if we stay at MS, but the Queenstown part is already booked.
@@acreinhard Ah ok! Fantastic idea, you will LOVE Queenstown :)
Gee, did ya see enough of our sheep 🐏 on your drives...lol
There were so many sheep, it's kind of crazy. Or at least for us from the states it's not a common site!
Wow thanks for this video
Of course! Thank you for watching! 😊
Loved your video
What time of the year was this?
@gailthompson3985 thank you so much! This was in January and it had been unusually dry that year so the waterfalls were not at their peak 😊
You guys got me and the wife hooked on your videos! Can't wait to see more! By the way, how much would such a month long vacation with about the same itinerary set us back?
Thanks so much for the comment! We really appreciate the support and I'm so glad to hear that you are enjoying the videos! For everything, including the flight from Oklahoma, all the side excursions, and eating out every meal, we spent around $16,000 USD. We saved for a long time and dreamed about the trip for years so we decided not to hold back and just go all in. In total we were there for 28 days and we had an unexpected expense leading to a detour trip before we were able to make it home. I don't want to spoil it but we will make a video about what happened. This trip could be done for a lot less though with budgeting. Wiebe thinks it could be done for around $12,000. We are hoping to put together a website in the near future and on it we will include an itinerary and budget breakdown.
Looks awesome, did you run into any Hobbits?
HAHA, no but I wish we had! 🤣
YEAH THAT KEA WAS SHARPENING UP HIS BEAK SO HE COULD CHEW THE HELL OUT OF THE RUBBER PARTS ON YOUR CAR AHAHAHA
Right?!! But he was so cute!!! We loved seeing them!!
where is the parking spot for your car, for overnight cruise?
@dropy555 right next to the boat terminal where all the bus parking is. They reserve a couple bus spots specifically for the overnight cruise and all of you just stack your cars in those spots. They send you instructions for that with the bus parking spot numbers to park in 😊
@@AbbieandWiebe thanks, i think we should parking in the same spot when we take regular milford cruise, outside the terminal.
@dropy555 yes it’s the same parking lot, just closer to the front door! Haha 🤣
This is like Iceland on steroids!
So true! I think it was the most beautiful place we’ve ever been. Magical is the only word I can think of to describe it!
Kea birds are thieves they stole a tourist wallet an flew away up I the sky’s then realised it’s not eatable then tossed it 😂😂😂😂😂
HAHA what a cheeky little guy! We still thought they were super cute :)
Lol yeah nah keas are cute, but are destructive as well. They will strip rubber from around the windscreen as fast as they can, they love windscreen wipers, they will steal your food off your plate in a blink of the eye.
Yeah we've seen that in other videos lol! Our experiences were all cute!
And tip over your coffee if you ignore them 😅
@@Aroha016 haha, well we missed out on their cheekiness it sounds like...
Milford is one of the 7 wonders of the world to me..It's spectacular..Loving you enjoying our country..
@@suehowie152 It really is the most beautiful awe inspiring natural wonder we've ever seen! Thank you for watching! ❤
I love your videos! My husband and I are trying to decide between 2 nights at Milford Lodge with a sunrise kayak tour or on an overnight cruise. Which did you prefer?
How much time did you get kayaking on the overnight cruise?
@corrinekeehan that is so sweet! Thank you!
So we discussed your question and both of us think you all should do the Milford Lodge for 2 nights. Although the overnight cruise was amazing, you only get about an hour for kayaking. And there’s so much more to see around Milford Sound that you’d be able to see if you stayed in the area longer! A sunrise kayak tour sounds amazing! We’re so excited for you all! Whichever you choose, we think you’ll love it! ❤️