New Zealand - South Island Trip - Fiordland - Milford and Doubtful Sound

in #life7 years ago (edited)

Fiordland is my favourite part of New Zealand. Recently I've visited it for second time and yet again have been blessed with lovely weather. Supposedly its raining there 2/3 of the year hence so lovely fauna. Here is few shots I've taken on the way to Milford Sound which is the must see route to do if you are ever in New Zealand. All the photos are made with my Fujifilm XT20 and XF18-55, XF55-200 and Samyang12f2 combo which proved to be perfect for such travel.

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Here is Kea. Favourite bird of New Zealanders in 2017. The only alpine parrot in the word. Loves rubber, poops on cars and is really chicky. Very friendly to tourists. Photo with XF55-200 from the car seat.

Key Summit - must do track on the way to Milford Sound around 2h return or 4 if you stop to make photos everywhere as I did. This one made with Samyang12f2. Its manual lens but focus peaking makes it easy to operate.

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Mirror lake spot on the the way to Milford. Sand flies (as in whole Fiordland) are annoying but view compensates. Area is part of UNESCO World Heritage site. This pic made with XF18-55.

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'Knobs flat' spot on the way from TeAnau to Milford Sound. Makes perfect album cover. Reminds me of Boards of Canada. This one made with Samyang12f2.

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Sunset at Milford Sound. I felt so lucky to get nice weather and kayaks day after. Here is a tip. If you travel there avoid Christmas as air traffic spoils the nature. There were 5 planes in the air all the time. I did same spot in early November year before and it was much more quiet. One can enjoy nature more.
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On the way back from Milford we stopped on every view point and possible stop. Its well worth doing as views are amazing each time.
fiordland-6.jpg Two photos above made with XF18-55 and polarising filter.

Doubtful Sound on the other hand felt really empty even on the Christmas day. The area is massive. We did 2 days of kayaking and it was the best experience in New Zealand. Highly recommended. After sunny day we had whole night of rain which activated thousands of waterfalls and provided us million dollar views. Unforgettable experience. Here is few shots from this trip.

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Shot with panorama feature on XT20 and XF18-55.
Changing lenses on kayaking is most nerve wrecking experience but its worth it!

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Thats it for now. Feel free to comment or ask any questions. Any feedback really appreciated. I'm new to STEEMIT. Will be posting more footage from South Island trip in the coming days. It makes nice archive for me and hopefully useful info for travellers and/or photographers.

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Very nice. I especially liked the waterfall and the bird. Kea looks very tricky)

Thank you! Keas were so funny, they jumped on our car and allowed making whole photo session with them. See below :D

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They know how to obtain a free photo session) And poses are so funny. And the car is not much scratching? Claws are probably huge O_o

yeah they are really funny. Dont think they scratched the car. Were sliding on the windows tho lol.

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