Fiordland Kayaking

In December 2025 we travelled down to Fiordland with our kayaks aiming to get out onto Lake Manapouri, Lake Monowai and Milford Sound when we could, in amongst the notoriously inclement weather. Thankfully we were lucky enough to have beautiful sunny weather for the majority of the trip however windows of low wind were slim. We had some magnificent early morning paddles interspersed with day-runs on the windy days. We had some good advice from friends who had been here many times before on kayaks and in general for others aiming to do similar I would recommend getting all your paddling done before noon as, just like Patagonia, the wind builds on these lakes reliably every afternoon and quickly becomes very dangerous. The long fetches and accelerating winds down the narrow sounds can drive surprisingly large waves. The lake temperature is also around 7-15'c (seasonally) so be prepared for managing your exposure if you end up in the water. Manapouri was our favourite of the lakes as it had abundant little coves and bays overflowing with the lush forests of Fiordland National Park, with very few other people about and plenty of camping opportunities.