We left Te Anau to drive up to Milford Sound. The drive to Milford is fantastic, especially as it the weather had cleared and it was a lovely sunny day. We passed lakes and rivers following the valley floor up towards the mountains. We stopped for a couple of quick walks by the Mirror Lake (an oxbow lake that reflects the mountains – unfortunately the wind was blowing when we were there so this didn’t work) and The Chasm, where the river has carved fantastic shapes and waterfalls amongst the rocks. The views were amazing as we approached the snow capped mountains and the Homer Tunnel which runs right underneath a huge mountain. This tunnel is unlit and only one car width wide. There are traffic lights on each side, but they only change every 15 minutes. They changed to green just as we arrived so we didn’t have to wait for them to change, but it did mean we’d have to enjoy the view on the way back. On each side of the tunnel there were innumerable waterfalls cascading down the mountain sides, glistening in the sunshine.

Once through the tunnel the road winds steeply down the mountain to Milford Sound. The meeting point for the kayaking was the Milford Lodge, so we stopped there (after first flying past the turning!). Because we didn’t fancy driving all or even part of the way back to Te Anau after the kayaking, we booked in at the Lodge. They only had unpowered sites left, and whilst NZ$30 was what we were paying for powered sites elsewhere, we figured it was ok there as it’s in the middle of nowhere.

We had our meeting with our kayak guide before heading down to the Paddle-on-Inn to gear up. The Paddle-on-Inn is really just a collection of old, battered, patched up caravans that have been there for about ten years; they aren’t allowed to put up any permanent buildings because it is a National Park so caravans it is! We were given some very fetching stripy thermals (Andy was even fortunate enough to get matching top and bottoms), fleece, spray jacket, spray deck and life jacket, before heading out into Milford Sound on the boat. The boat then dropped us off and we were to paddle our double-occupancy sea kayaks back. Milford Sound is absolutely beautiful! The cliffs are pretty much vertical from sea level to, well we forget how high, but they were high! We had excellent weather as well for a paddle. Apparently it can get pretty rough in the Sound, particularly in the afternoon (when we were there) as the sun heats the air, which then cools as it rises up the mountain sides, producing a cyclonic effect and causing the wind strength to build. But the sun was out, the sea in the fjord was calm and the wind wasn’t too strong. We had a great time! We got to paddle right up to a waterfall (can’t remember the name, but we think it was 150m high, but we do remember the strength of the wind coming off it and the ‘refreshing’ spray!). We did get attacked by sandflies at one point, which wasn’t so nice. And Andrea didn’t think much of Andy’s navigation (Andy was at the back controlling the kayak’s rudder – hard work paddling and steering!). But the scenery was breathtaking and we had a good upper body workout!