The World Of Woodbury: Milford Sound Overnight Cruise

We were up and out of our hotel early in the morning and on the road to drive as close as we could get to the coastal bays. The drive was breathtaking with steep mountain peaks and lush green forests and pastures. We live in Utah right next to beautiful mountains but these mountains seemed to rise straight up right next to pastures.

We drove about 2 hours and then boarded a large ferry that would take us out to our actual boat and the actual fiords. I guess it makes sense we'd been driving past mountain ranges with such steep walls and that's what makes the fiords possible too.

We ate our bag lunches and played cards for the short ride.

And then took a crazy bus ride over the only semi-paved road through the national park and arrived at our next ride. For New Year's Eve Taylor's dad booked us on an overnight cruise through Fiordlands National Park. It's really the only way to see it since it's so isolated.

There weren't enough solo rooms left when we booked so part of our group ended up downstairs in the backpackers rooms. Bunk beds and curtains instead of doors. Does it look like these adventurous souls mind? They're pretty excited actually.

And shared showers with, you guessed it, curtains too! How fun!

Luckily there was 1 room upstairs for Isla and I. I tend to get very motion sick and have spent a good part of every family cruise puking my guts out. So it was nice to have my own tiny bathroom in my own private room and wouldn't have to climb down off a bunk and run to a shared bathroom. It was also nice to know Isla wouldn't wake others up if she cried or get woken up by loud partying on New Year's Eve. Taylor slept down with the boys that night but as soon as we got on and got settled, he laid down with Isla so she'd take a nap. He's still the sandman in our house. Doesn't look like Isla minds hanging out with him.

And while they napped the boys and I explored the main deck. This 24 hours on the ship was actually my favorite family time of the whole trip. It was just so relaxing to all be locked together in such tight space. Plus they had a bunch of games so we really ended up hanging out and talking and playing and just enjoying each others company instead of touring and rushing around like the other days.

Plus the food was fantastic and who'd complain with unlimited piping hot hot chocolate.

After a little snack we were given the option of getting on the boat to either kayak around a little bay or ride on a smaller boat to explore the shoreline more closely. It was pouring rain off and on so we all donned rain jackets and life preservers. And since my boys are too little to kayak and quite honestly I was too cold and wet already to even want to kayak, we went on the small boat.

Rain or shine, it's an adventure with these little boys.

Looking back on our little boat. There were probably 75 people on board and 25 or so crew members. Very tight and very quaint.

Our first stop was to visit the Blanket Bay Hotel. It's not actually a hotel at all and really just one room that sticks out fully over the water. Apparently when the storms in the ocean really kick up, the commercial ships have to look for shelter in the fiords and they can be stranded there quite a while. They petitioned the government at some point to let them build a small house so they could get off their ships. The government refused since they're all about keeping this National Park pristine, but they found a loophole since the National Park technically ends at the waterline. So they just built a structure that at high tide is not even an inch on the surface.

We got closer to one of the literally thousands of waterfalls we saw.

And our nature guide helped explain all the natural flora and fauna. It was fascinating to me... not so much to the little boys.

But at least there were little birds to entertain them although they blended very well with the shoreline.

And there were lots of kayakers to watch too.

There's Arty and Esther. Barb and Clint went out too.

And then Clint was crazy enough to go swimming.

Back on board the babies woke up and it was time to start heading as close to the south pole as we could get.

We stopped to put our hands in some of the waterfalls. This park is literally a rain forest because it rains so much and there were THOUSANDS of waterfalls everywhere we looked.

Some big and cascading, and some just small little streams down the steep mountains.

The water in the fiord was very calm and almost lake-like but as we got closer to the ocean, the waves got gigantic and the swells were over 10 feet tall. Which was a lot considering we were in that tiny boat. I was fine at the beginning with just some dramamine and then I spent almost an hour outside in the wind and rain just trying to look forward and not lose my cookies.

Once we were out in open water, we stopped close by several big rocks where fur seals were breeding. If we'd come in the winter we might have seen penguins on their way to Antarctica.

There were tons of seals.

And it was pretty neat to see them up close.

All the others came out on deck to see them closer. Luckily Taylor doesn't get sick at all so he could take care of all the kids.

And then I was grateful we started heading back in the fiord. Waterfalls everywhere.

Once I felt a little better we all ventured out to explore the ship. I love these cuties. They make every day an adventure.

We visited the captain and learned about how the ship works.

And then we came down for an amazing 3 course meal and lots more games and hanging out together. Then it was time to sleep and thankfully we were all so exhausted it didn't matter where we were sleeping, we all just passed out.