Booking activities in advance in New Zealand

Hi,

For Milford Sound cruises, it's best to book in advance. Generally, cancellations are free, like on this site: https://www.milford-sound-cruises.com/fr/. For everything else, it depends on what you want to do and where. Watch out—when I was there in November 2019, the road to Milford Sound was closed at night starting at 5 PM, about ten kilometers past Te Anau.

Fred

Thanks so much, Fred!!! This doesn’t work too well for us because it’ll make the trip less flexible…

Same question for tourist sites like: Wai-O-Tapu geothermal area, glowworm caves in Te Anau, kayaking or boat activities in Abel Tasman…?

For Abel Tasman, I don’t think you need to book ahead. For the others, I’m not sure.

Sorry about the formatting—I can't seem to insert line breaks in some places.

Hi everyone, I’d like to share my thoughts on the "West Coast of the South Island." My experience: - I chose Doubtful Sound (not Milford Sound) - On February 8th, I arrived in Manapouri; the weather was terrible: continuous rain all evening and all night. I bought my ticket for Doubtful Sound because the next day was supposed to be cloudy with sunny spells but no rain. February 9th, departure at 8 AM. Fewer than 20 people on board. Since it was the day after rain, I saw the non-permanent waterfalls. The guide’s comment: “They flow on rainy days and the day after rain—that is, very often, but not every day.” February 10th: a road trip with lots of stops and short walks. Manapouri, Te Anau, Eglington Valley, Lake Gunn, The Divide, Hollyford Valley, the tunnel, Milford Sound (hike along the fjord). On the way back: tunnel, Hollyford Valley, overnight at Gunn's Camp (the site has since been destroyed by a landslide). - February 11th: Gunn's Camp, The Divide. From the pass, a round-trip hike to Key Summit, Lake Howden, and Earland Falls. Overnight in Te Anau. In bad weather (rain), the days of the 9th, 10th, and 11th would have been ruined or even impossible. I was told I was lucky because, starting the morning of the 10th, a 12-day stretch of good weather began. But (notes taken in 2020), since you can find just about anything online regarding average annual precipitation, I checked the official NIWA (National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research) website. For Te Anau and Manapouri, the figures are 1.2 and 1.1 meters respectively—much higher than some French regions: between 0.6 and 0.7 meters in Île-de-France, Touraine, and Poitou, for example. But you can imagine what that means by thinking of our wettest regions: 1.2 meters in Quimper, 1.4 in the Basque Country. For even higher values in France, you’d have to go to the mountains, so at higher altitudes (Vosges, Jura, Haute-Savoie, western Pyrenees). Here, at West Arm (west shore of Lake Manapouri), it reaches 3.8 meters. At Deep Cove, it’s 5.3 meters, and at Milford Sound, it’s 6.7 meters. As soon as you go up in altitude on the western side, it’s over 8 meters (apparently, at weather stations??). These are just numbers to me—I can’t even imagine what that looks like. I tell myself that Te Anau and Manapouri have a pleasant climate, well sheltered behind the mountains. New Zealanders might imagine what that means, but they don’t experience it because no one lives west of Te Anau and Manapouri. They experience it in places like Hokitika, further north on the West Coast. The West Coast of the South Island (which includes Fiordland) is one of the wettest regions in the world. In February, it’s summer... but still. In my opinion, for this region, it’s best to plan as little as possible. It’s better to be able to adapt or change your mind. Personally, the good weather stayed with me until I left Abel Tasman NP, and then I paid my debt to the rain. That said, my trip was in 2015. Tourist pressure is surely stronger now, which is why people tend to book in advance. But if you can avoid it, it’s better.