Envy Experiences' Tesla-Powered Milford Sound Trips

Nigel Humphries has pretty much nailed the Milford Sound experience. 

Together with his wife, Fiona, he operates Envy Experiences, offering 100% carbon neutral luxurious daytrips to Milford Sound in their Tesla Model X. But the car is only half the story. Nigel’s 20-plus years of local knowledge and story-telling ability give Envy Experiences the edge. 

“It’s a total point of difference.”  

It’s a handcrafted experience that is meticulously planned, with thoughtful attention to detail, bringing people closer to Fiordland’s awesome natural wonders. The day trips involve lots of stops at magical spots, a couple of little walks, and that all-important morning tea. 

“It’s a relaxing way to get to Milford,” Nigel says. 

Envy Experiences talks about genuine Kiwi hospitality, and clients concur, with reviews raving about the great value for money and Nigel’s knowledgeable commentary. 

“We love being able to tell a story about the national park, the land, the road, the tunnel, and the vegetation.” 

The business launched in 2020 has achieved “Climate Positive” certification from Ekos. This environmental financing enterprise helps businesses measure, reduce, and offset their greenhouse gas emissions. To gain the certification, they had to measure their emissions, and while doing this, they realised they were very close to achieving the positive status. They bought two carbon credits, offsetting 120% of their emissions produced. The certification was obtained as part of Great South’s Murihiku Southland Sustainable Tourism Programme. 

“It is pretty simple for us; our main input is electricity, and because we’re a small business, we operate out of the same office as the motel.” 

The couple has also owned and operated the Anchorage Motel and Apartments in Te Anau for the past 25 years, so they have “been around tourism for quite a while”, Nigel says modestly. 

“We’ve always had a sustainability lens across our motel. It’s ingrained in the accommodation business.” 

It was through the motels they got to know more about electric vehicles when they had a Tesla destination charger installed. A short time later, they were in Auckland at the Tesla showroom and decided to take a car for a test drive. They got on a plane to fly home, and by the time they arrived back in Queenstown, had come up with the idea for a bespoke electric car tourism experience. 

“I’d always enjoyed driving to Milford, so we combined the two and away we went.” 

There was a lot of legwork to get consent, concessions, and vehicle certifying sorted before they launched in early 2020. Then COVID struck. Nigel says the Kiwi market kept them going through the pandemic, as they built their presence through their motel business and an online presence before word of mouth started to kick in. 

“Now, about 70 per cent of our clients come from outside of the motel.” 

They still get a few Kiwis, but it’s mostly overseas tourists these days, Nigel says. 
Nigel says he has witnessed the growing importance of environmental awareness in his customer base over the years - and being able to offer them a low-impact, high-value Milford alternative is satisfying. 

“We can see people actually enjoy the area, take it a bit slower and not have the same impact as racing in and out, and not having the big queues.” 

The Tesla also attracts a fair bit of interest on the road, with curious onlookers keen to know more about EVs. 

“People come up and ask about it and maybe take a photo. There are EV models going through there quite often, but not Model X Tesla’s.” 

And that’s fine by Nigel; after all, one of their mantras is ‘take only pictures, leave only footprints’.