To get to Doubtful Sound, you go to Te Anau, get on a boat at Lake Manipouri, go to West Arm, where you get a bus to go through Wilmot Pass (it’s gorgeous), and then you get to Doubtful Sound. You are truly in the wilderness.
There’s much discussion on travel sites about whether Doubtful or Milford is “better.” They are simply very different experiences.
The Milford Road from Te Anau to Milford Sound is a stunning trip --snow-capped mountains, expansive valleys, just beautiful. IIRC, it’s about a three hour drive. When we went through the LONG tunnel shortly before arriving at the Sound, there were no lights other than your car’s headlamps. The tunnel had a gravel surface. I hear it’s paved and lit now. Most tours there are by bus, starting out of Queenstown or Te Anau. It’s a full day trip. Milford Sound has a hostel (we stayed there – it is VERY basic). The only people who live there are the employees who work the ships and hostel. There were six of us in the hostel room. There was a cafeteria for food; virtually everyone heads back to their base instead of staying there overnight.
In fairness, we went straight from the Doubtful Sound overnight to Milford. We were so blown away by our Doubtful Sound experience. We got snow overnight on the mountains in the fjord, as well as pelting rain and brilliant sunshine; the food was outstanding. It was a small ship with about 35 guests. Most slept in hostel-style rooms, though there were a few cabins for a surcharge.
Milford seemed very touristy by comparison. However, there’s a reason Milford is so popular – the drive to get there is spectacular, and the mountains in Milford Sound are much higher than at Doubtful, making the views more dramatic. We were on the one of the last sailings of the day at Milford, planned that way because we wanted to enjoy the drive up there and because we were staying overnight.
Our first trip to AUS was with our sons in 2005 (they were 13 and 14 at the time). We styed for three weeks. H had been to Sydney for work and took extra time off to do some touring in anticipation that we’d go as a family in the future. We did Sydney, drove up the coast to Cairns and got a guide for two days in Daintree and a trip to a family-run gold mine in the outback. Also snorkeled at the GBR. We then flew to Adalaide and picked up a small group tour (15 people) for two days on Kangaroo Island. I highly recommend KI and doing it with a tour. You can’t bring a rental car from the mainland and rentals are limited on the island. We went to a koala sanctuary, a honey farm, the Remarkable Rocks, hiked, climbed a mountain overlooking the narrowest part of the island, saw lots of wildlife. (Kangaroos are like white-tailed deer on the east coast of the US; ubitquitous and frequently in the road) Our group stayed at a farm, where S2 cooked steaks on the barbie for a group dinner. We didn’t think we’d be able to get him back on a plane to come home. We mollified him by telling him he could consider colleges that offered study abroad opportunities. (He did. And now he’s an expat 5,000 miles away.)
Our first trip to NZ in 2013 – spent nine days in AUS first, doing the Pacific Coast HIghway to the Twelve Apostles, hitting Melbourne and then to KI again (this time, we rented a car, as we knew exactly what we wanted to see the second time around). Then we had nine days in NZ, split between North and South Islands. Second trip to NZ was three weeks, again to both islands, but a different itinerary. LOTS of driving.
@esobay went on a Road Scholar tour to AUS recently. Am tagging her to see if she wants to chime in.
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