Hello everyone,

We are now in Te Anau. This is the closest town to Milford Sound, which is the reason we're here. Te Anau is a small little town on the edge of a huge lake overlooking the mountains. Its 120km from Milford Sound. We have found accommodation and the owners are lovely. Helen one of the owners is from England. She was very nice and we chatted about home for about an hour. We had a look around the town and did a lot of walking. We decided not to go to Milford today as it was overcast and the weather was better tomorrow. But we did drive a little way up to Milford Sound as there is some nice walks. We did a walk around Mistletoe Lake, very nice. Had a picnic on the water front. After lunch we went to the Kepler Track back in Te Anau and went for a walk. It is a 60km track which takes 3 days but we walked 2 hours of it. It was just like a scene out of Lord of the Rings in gorgeous forest settings. NZ is like Lord of the Rings everywhere due to the fact that the film was done all over NZ.

So the following day we got up early and drove up to Milford Sound. A 120km and about 2 hours drive as its very twisty turny on the last 30km. We saw some amazing waterfalls but the highlight of the drive was the Homer Tunnel. A 1.2km tunnel with a very steep gradient. It was very dark and goes straight through th mountains. It's not like any tunnel you'd imagine back home. This was really cool with water trickling in from above and granite walls.

We got to the car park at Milford Sound and went to the ferry terminal. We had booked the ferry cruise yesterday back in Te Anau. It was a 2 hour and 15 minutes nature cruise on the Sound. It was amazing. The first stop we got really close to the rocks and the captain talked about different trees and moss. The whole of the Sound is amazing and there are just mountains which are towering over the water. The main mountain is called Mitre Peak, as it looks like a Bishops hat. Carried on, on the next stop we got very wet. The boat went right into a waterfall and as we were at the front we got drenched. It was really cool. At this waterfall some glasses were put on the front of the boat and were filled up with the waterfall water. Yes we got to drink the water which was beautiful. We've never done that before. The next stop we saw some seals coming in from their morning fishing. They were just climbing onto the rocks. Then we went out into the Tasman Sea. It was very rough and water came in the boat but we still stayed outside. It was great fun. We stopped at another huge waterfall and got wet again which was fun and it made you feel very alive. The whole trip was amazing and it was defiantly the best day we've had so far here. The captain told us that the Sound had been carved out by a huge Glacier thousands of years ago. The whole experience was breathtaking and well worth the money.

On the way back we met a couple of lads from England. Their lift had left them there so we gave them a lift back to Te Anau. On the way back we stopped at a Chasm. Wow this was great. It was a huge waterfall running though huge rocks. It was a bit like the Potholes in South Africa. Amazing. Carried on and got to the tunnel and at the top stopped and saw some Kea's. These are NZ parrots and are very destructive. They are cute though. They even tried to get to George as he was in the car behind the windscreen. It was funny. Stopped at the Mirror Lakes but as it was a bit breezy it didn't work. This is supposed to be a lake that exactly mirrors the mountains but only works with dead stillness. So had a fantastic day and really enjoyed it. The two boys we met were really cool and was great to meet a couple of lads from England.

Tomorrow we are heading down to Queenstown. So speak to you all then.

Lots of love Gemma, Darren and George xxx xxx xxx