We arrived in Te Anau on Sunday afternoon to bad news - the road to Milford Sound was closed due to the high avalanche risk! Not good news as Milford Sound was one of the places we particuarly wanted to go to.

Te Anau was a lovely little town on Lake Te Anau, the second largest lake in NZ after Lake Taupo, with snow-capped mountains everywhere you looked. We spent a few hours there and then after talking to the DOC (Department of Conservation) we decided to drive up the Milford Sound road, as far as we could get, as there was plenty else to see and walks to do and hope they opened the road to Milford Sound.

The drive along Milford Road was beautiful, lots of Lakes reflecting the surronding snow-capped mountains, and so called the mirror lakes!! We camped in a DOC campsite with amazing views of the mountains!

Monday morning as we were getting ready to head off we cheered at the sight of a tour bus driving past us on the road, that must mean they had opened the road!! I have never been so happy to see a tour bus!! So we too set off for Milford Sound and i got out of the 6 hour walk Andrew had been planning instead for us!!

It was a bit scary driving to Milford Sound. There was snow everywhere as we climbed up into part of the mountains which don't get much sun! The cliffs hung right out over the road and there was evidence of avalanches everywhere and guys working to clear it all up. We then had to drive through the Homer Tunnel, which is 1.2km long which was completed in 1953. This tunnel goes right through a mountain and makes access to Milford Sound possible.

Milford Sound itself is a tiny place with not much there except for tour companies who do cruises on the sound. In fact calling it a sound is incorrect! It is actually a fiord created by a glacier thousands of years ago! The guy who discovered it called it Milford (after Milford Haven in Wales, his hometown!) and because he mistakenly thought it to be a sound, which are created by rivers!

We went on a 2 hour scenic cruise of the fiord, it truly was beautiful even though the weather was a bit cloudy and very windy we were still blown away by the steepness and height of the cliffs and amazed that anything could grow on them. let alone all the trees and shrubs there are!

The waterfalls were also massive, Stirling Falls is 50 storeys high! It was hard to get the scale of them until another boat sailed past them or the helicopter went close by (see the photos to see what we mean!) The boat took us right up to the waterfall and I stayed up front to feel the spray on my face (and body - I got soaked!)

Next we head onto the adventure capital of NZ - Queenstown, although we have spent our adventure budget so we may be just relaxing instead!

Lots of Love

Sarah and Andrew xxx