My husband and I will be in Queenstown for 5 days the end of Feb. We would like to do a side trip to experience the Fiordland. We are active and enjoy trekking and kayaking and are open to an overnight cruise.
Any suggestions on making the best of 3 days?
Thank you.
I really am basing a lot of our trip planning by reading everyones messages.

Part of the decision will depend on how much of the 5 day time you want to devote to fiords. You can do Milford in one day from Q'town, but it is a looong day spent mostly in the car/bus.
Real Journeys will bus you from Q'town to Manapouri, the take off point for the overnight. You can leave your luggage at the Real JOurney office, as there is only room for an overnight bag or back pack for the trip.
I am a big fan of the overnight Doubtful, as my trip report here will attest. We did them both, based out of Te Anau, and if I could only do one, it would be Doubtful. Others may have different opinions.

An overnight tour on one of the sounds (recommended in any case) also makes good use of time and creates additional options.

I enjoyed a day cruise on Doubtful and and overnight on Milford. The reverse might be more of a wilderness experience, but coming back into Milford from the Tasman at dawn was magical.

Thank you for your suggestions. Is Real Journey the only operating company for cruises/tours?
BillJ, how do I access your trip report?

We enjoyed the doubtful overnight. Report at: http://compassguides.com/forums/thre...p;tid=34602230

Part 6

Canman, we did a day-trip on Milford Sound decades ago, and an amazing overnight on Doubtful Sound in February 2007, recently.

The overnight on doubtful sound is especially good for a special occasion. I posted a trip report when I returned, and just now I posted a link to some of our favorite photos. I origianlly had 200 photos just of Doubtful Sound, but don't worry, I only posted about 41 favorite photos, and only about 2 or 3 of them are of Doubtful Sound.

Enjoy breathtaking New Zealand!

Canman, I just reviewed my New Zealand photos, and there are actually about 4 or 5 photos from our Doubtful Sound overnight trip. Just posted them under the title "New Zealand Photos by Melissa5 February 2007". You'll see the link to my web album.

Have a great trip!

Canman; in the "search this forum" square above this post, type in BillJ, hit enter, and you will see all the threads I have posted on.
The trip report covering the fiords is about the 32nd thread on the left of this. I filed them as #1,2, and 3. The fiords are in #2.
My photos are at http://www.flickr.com/photos/calbill...7594209116164/
New Zealand is terrific. You'll enjoy.

Forgot to answer your other questions. There are several operators at Milford. If you drive there, you can pick up a short 1.5 to 2 hour tour from one of many operators. Try to get there before noon as that's when all the tour buses get there, and there are lots of people.
We got there about 11:30 and had our pick of boats.
As far as I know, Real Journeys is the only provider of the Doubtful overnight. They have a web site. That trip needs to be booked well in advance.
When in doubt, just go ahead and call them. They were about the friendliest tour group operator I have ever done business with.

Are you going to do the Routeburn track? We enjoyed a day-hike from both ends of the Routeburn track. One end isn't far from Queenstown. The other end isn't far from Te Anau. We really enjoyed staying at both Te Anau and Queenstown. But it depends on how much time you have.

From a Queenstown base you can see Glenorchy and hike the Routeburn track from that end.

From Te Anau you can do Milford or Doubtful Sound from a closer base, plus you can do the Routeburn track from that end, plus there are many beautiful sites from Milford Rd. where you should take your time.

Enjoy!

We just returned from NZ and did the Doubtful Overnight and Milford Day (nature cruise). I'd highly recommend both. We did Doubtful on a Tuesday and Milford on Thursday staying in Te Anau. We loved Te Anau.