So we headed off anyway, off to Te Anau, the Gateway so to speak for Milford Sound. The Danish girl, Louise, that we had met in Wanaka came with us and we all decided to do nothing the first day in Te Anau. This was partly, or should I say completely because there was nothing really to do in Te Anau for people not planning on doing a trek. If one was to plan a trek, this would really be the place to do it. The whole area is full of amazing 1-10 day hikes, maybe even longer. I fancied going for a run so we took the car out to the start of one of the famous treks, the Kepler track, and while I ran through the forest (Second best run I have been on since leaving), the two girls took a walk through the forest along the start of the trail. I dont think I have ever been anywhere as green, except when I got stuck inside a green jumper I was trying to put on over my head. It was amazing, the first 5k or so was dead flat and then the next bit was dead up hill. If I ever come back I think I will have to do one of the hikes. There are huts and campsites along the way that you can stop over in (expensive but probably worth it). Sadly, the photographer for the day was less inspired than usual, so there wont be many pictures from the amazing green forest, but I should be able to remember it pretty well for a while anyway!!!

Well, down to the business at hand then. We werent here to write about Te Anau. Early the next morning we decided to head to Milford Sound, and as luck would have it it was raining heavily and cloudy. Third time lucky that we have been in a really amazing place and not been able to see it properly. Along the route you could see glimbses of moutains rising up from the valley floor where the road ran. They rise high and fast and steep thanks to the gouging the glaciers of days gone created. There are lots of little stops along the way too, the only one that was really outstanding was the Chasm, where the river has eroded away the river bed in some really strange formations over the millenia. The rocks had amazing curves and smooth edges polished out of them, or into them depending on your perspective. The best part was that the rain could only have enhanced the view of something so close making the water all the more furious around it. The other points of interest were the thousands of temporary and permanent waterfalls running off the cliffs. Some of them were just starting as we passed, and some of them were there a lot longer, obviously they were bigger. Towards the end of the road, I have left out the points of interest we couldnt see by the way, there is the Homer tunnel. It is in the shape of Homer Simpsons head and when you pass through it you can hear a D'oh sound from within the tunnel. Just before the tunnel there are small glaciers and ice fields with waterfalls running out of them onto the scree. On the other side of the tunnel you come into what I can only imagine as being the place that King Kong lives, or something similar. The cliff walls go higher than the clouds. You can see bits of them above the clouds and then they sneak back in again and again. There was even more waterfalls running down the cliffs here. The road then winds down the twisty and turny road to the area of Milford sound and the ferry port onto the Fiord. Not to leave out the two things I learned about the place I will quickly say that when it was discovered, and it nearly wasnt, they thought it was a Sound (hence the name), which is a valley forged out by a river and back filled by the ocean. However it is in fact a Fiord which is a valley created by a glacier and back filled by the ocean. In fact it was created by five glaciers, and you can see where some of them had carved out a valley, and left a ledge before the next one came through the middle creating a smaller valley in the middle. This created a kind of stair case effect in places. That was the two things I learned, maybe it was three!!! The cliffs are so steep at the edge of the water, and they keep going to the bottom before they U shape around to the other side. We took a ferry tour around the Fiord and out to the opening. You could again only see glimpses of the immense scenary all around, but it was at times just enough to whet the appetite (Regina thought it sucked because she hates clouds). For me it was a bit mroe magical not being able to see it all, but it is still an awful shame not to have seen it properly. At the opening of the Fiord, looking inward you could easily miss that it was there with the mountains interweaving to hide the entrance, which is why it was not seen the first two times the early European explorers passed by. It took a Welsh fisher man from the town of Milford to find it... any port in a storm sort of thing..... I know thats not what that means, but the expression had to mean something proper at some stage!!!

Well that was it, left feeling hard done by with the weather, and soaked to the skin from standing on the bow of the boat the whole way out and most the way back. Free tea in the scullery and back to the car for the drive home. And that was Milford Sound. Nearing the end of our kiwi adventure with only Dunedin, somewhere in between and Christchurch left..... Dunedin has a Cadburys factory.... have a guess what we will be doing there!!!!

Bye for now, thanks for reading