After a graet nights sleep in the relative luxury of our cabin, we were up for breakfast at 0700 - bacon, eggs, mushrooms, etc, etc, oh and some healthy stuff too! The next 2 hours were spent in the sound, prior to disembarking at 0915. The clouds started clearing and the rain had made for cascading waterfalls in the 22km long fiord. The sheer cliffs were carved by ice and the highest point is Mitre Peak, standing at 1692m. We even got to see some rainbows, as you can see from my picture. As we were about to disembark the crew made an announcement of the Welsh rugby score. How happy were you dad????!!!!! We returned to the car and headed south to Te Anau, before picking up the Southern Scenic Road along to Invercargill. From here we headed down to Bluff (a rundown industrial town according the Lonely Planet - not wrong) and stopped at Stirling Point signpost, so we had officially been from the top to the bottom! We continued along the coast through the Catlins and drove down to Curio Bay, where there is a 160 million year old petrified forest that can only be seen when the tide is out. It was amazing as it looked like wood, but was actually rock. Here we also saw a yellow eyed penguin, which are really rare. By now the sun was starting to set and we headed off in search of accomodation, more precisely the Hilltop Backpackers at Tahakapa, which was described as 'exceptional'. We drove for ages up unsealed roads and eventually found it when we turned round, but no sign of a shop. So we checked in with some diet coke, a huge bar of chocolate left over from my birthday, a dry chocolate tea cake, a bottle of bubbly and an apple. The lady who checked us in told us that there were some potatoes in the garden if we wanted to dig them up and cook them!! Didn't bother, but made us laugh. The hostel was more like a home with beautiful rooms and decor, but couldn't see the views as pitch black. To bed, hungry and dreaming of tuna salad. S and N xx