Part #1: Piopiotahi - Milford Sound with Heritage Expeditions

In late February, I found out that I’d been offered a True Young Explorer scholarship position from Heritage Expeditions on their ‘Unseen Fiordland, Stewart Island, and The Snares’ cruise. I was BEYOND stoked. I had two weeks’ notice to apply for leave from work, get my gear sorted, and mentally prepare myself for getting way out of my comfort zone.

After arriving in Queenstown and spending our first night at the Hilton and eating a fab three-course meal(!), we jumped on a Southern Discoveries coach and headed to our first destination, Piopiotahi - Milford Sound. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been here before - the spectacular landscapes and immense size of the surrounding mountains take your breath away every time.

That huge mountain on the left is Rahotu - Mitre Peak. 1690m high, its shape is iconic and it stars in probably millions of Instagram photos. You can see why. That teeny tiny waterfall near the centre of the frame? Well, that’s Wai Manu - Stirling Falls. At 151m high, it’s three times the size of Niagara Falls. Yet somehow, from a distance, the mountains of Piopiotahi can make it just look, well, cute. Let me fix that.

Now, the immensity of Wai Manu - Stirling Falls makes this decently sized cruising vessel look cute! If you’re particularly adventurous and don’t mind getting saturated, you can stand on the bow of the ship and cop that water spray right in the face. It’ll be the freshest, purest shower you’ll probably ever have.

There were waterfalls and misty clouds everywhere we looked, so here are a few photos to give you a taste for it.

We had the pleasure of seeing lots of kekeno (NZ fur seals) lounging around in delightfully sassy, sleepy poses. These kekeno have got life hacked because they’ve chosen the eighth wonder of the world as their place to call home. Bravo, kekeno, bravo.

After spending a couple of hours exploring Piopiotahi, and an incredible underwater observatory that I highly recommend visiting, we headed to our accommodation for the next six nights.

The Spirit of Enderby (Professor Khromov) is an absolute unit of a ship. That may not be its technical term but it’s an accurate description. Fully ice-strengthened, Heritage Expeditions has taken this beauty to Russia’s Far East and all the way down to Antarctica multiple times, and basically everywhere in between.

Stay turned for three more blogs about my trip: Fiordland, The Snares and Stewart Island. I’ve got loads more photos to share!