We didn't make it all the way to Milford Sound the day we left Queenstown, we got as far as Te Anau and camped overnight and surprise surprise it was raining again! The next morning we continued to drive and eventually we came to the homer tunnel which goes through the Darran Mountain range, it's like driving through a cave!

We pulled over just after the tunnel to take some pictures but there were a few Kea's about which are a mountainous parrot. They look nice but can be pretty destructive to cars, they like to tear off any soft parts and wipers etc. I refused to get out in case they came after me and Casson spent most of his time chasing one off our roof, needless to say we didn't stay there long.

On the way down we stopped off at that Chasm which is a hole where a series of waterfalls have sculpted and scoured the granite over thousands of years. Finally we made it to Milford Sound ready to do our fjordland cruise and yes ...... it was raining!

Even through the mist and the rain you can see how beautiful it is, it was carved by glaciers during the ice ages. The fiord's cliffs rise vertically from the dark waters, mountain peaks scrape the sky and waterfalls cascade downwards, some as high as 1000 metres. It was however pretty cold!

The cruise was about 90 minutes long so we were in need of a brew when we got back to the van.

We really wanted to hike the Milford track as we knew how amazing the scenery would be but it was out of season so we made our way back to Te Anau and promised ourselves if we ever came back it would be in summer.

General points

1) We have never seen so many Japanese/Korean tourists in one place and my god do they like to pose for a picture!

2) We're addicted to brews, I'm worried the Tetley t bags won't last the whole trip!