Babies please SLEEP !

Up early and ready for our 8:30am pick up The coach arrived at 8:45 but we were swiftly transferred to Pearl Harbour with an interesting commentary by the bus driver. Until the 1950s Te Anau was a very small settlement with the nearest shop in Lumsden about 80km away over gravel roads. Quite and adventure to buy a loaf of bread ! The area was first settled in the 1850s and was gradually cleared from scrub to pasture by controlled burns.
The day itself was overcast with drizzle at first but getting heavier. We collected our lunch from the café, my nut free one still had fruit and nut scroggin in it. The rest was nice though.
We got into the launch in Manopouri which took us on the 30km/ 50 minute transfer to West Arm. The lake has 33 islands and is the 5th largest in New Zealand. Even though the day was dreary you could see how stunning it is. When we arrived at West Arm we transferred to coaches to travel the 20km of road through the Wilmot Pass. The roads were gravel, narrow, steep and winding. Over the course of the journey the driver gave and excellent talk about the local plant life. He also pointed out the way the vegetation recovers from a tree avalanche. A tree avalanche is an amazing concept, only 25% of the trees actually are attached to the rock, the rest just plug into the overall root system so if one of these anchor trees falls then the whole lot falls. Anyway it starts with mosses and lichens, then ferns etc. we also stopped at a view point for a great view over the sound or rather just under half of it. The scale of this sound is impressive, it is so much larger than Milford.
We arrived at the boat and managed to get the last four seats together and ate lunch while we started the cruise. It was spectacular and far more impressive than Milford. We were asked not to leave bags etc on seats so we felt no guilt in removing bags from the window seats that had been left there for over an hour with noone returning to them. The girls were both really good for this cruise although Alex did not eat well but that was potentially due to travel sickness from the us journey. The trip was able to reach the Tasman sea and we were able to see the fur seals. The Tasman was pretty calm as the wind was blowing easterlies. On the way out we had taken the northern entry and on the way back we took the southern route. We popped into the Crooked Arm and amazingly saw a pod of bottle nosed dolphins, both girls were really excited by this. The captain then turned off the engines so we could listen to the 'sound of silence'. Alex kept asking why we had to keep quiet and eventually was, there were some stifled giggles from other passengers about this conversation. It was amazing to hear so many noises like waterfalls and waves, it reminded me of the nice b it about sailing. Anyway with the rain getting heavier we returned inside and stayed there. The seats behind had a little boy who the girls enjoyed playing with. After the cruise which had amazing views we got back in the coach and headed to the power station. Elizabeth fell asleep on the way there. The entry was down a 2km tunnel where you had to drive on the right as during the construction the main contractor was an American firm who insisted on this protocol.
The power station was an interesting side excursion and we found it was the reason that it is possible to access Doubtful Sound so easily. The Wilmot pass road was built to provide access to the site for heavy machinery and supplies during the construction. Prior to the road the trip to Doubtful Sound took 4 days. Elizabeth missed the entire visit but awoke when we got back on the coach. Back home via the lake and spent some time getting fresh air on the back deck as Alex was feeling a little off.
When were back in the motel David made dinner, the girls were then bathed and huggled in towels. Elizabeth suddenly said 'get me to the toilet quickly' which we did and she duly did a wee there. She had a good day for losing the plot or lack of it but sadly lost it at the last hurdle, getting dressed for bed.