Our day Trip to Milford Sound

We awoke to the sound of rain, however by the time we left it had stopped and the road was dry. We went through the Te Anau Downs, as they call them and in the early stages of the journey it reminds you of bits of the New Forest, but not for long.

We stopped for a short while at the ‘Mirror Lakes’ where you can photograph the water and the scenery and they merge in the middle. On then through a town called Knob Flat, (must be a reason it’s called that?) until we reached Homer Tunnel that goes through the rock into the Milford Sound World Heritage Park.

You could see the snow and ice in places and when we got through the tunnel the weather had changed and become very cloudy and really not suitable for photographs.

We booked our place on the ‘Encounter’ tour which lasted about two hours and fifteen minutes. It was very enjoyable with the boat getting almost within touching distance of the solid vertical walls of the fiord. Again we saw New Zealand Fur Seals (actually a type of Sea Lion), much closer this time, and then the boat nosed in to the wall of the Fiord at the bottom of a large waterfall and we all got quite wet but it was fun.

It would appear that the mountains in this region are loaded with all types of minerals and if mined it would make New Zealand the richest country in the world, only they won’t mine it.

You can see in the Phanfare photographs how small the boats look against the size of the mountains. Apparently Sir Edmund Hilary used to practise his rock climbing here before taking on Everest. There is one mountain nearby that many experienced climbers cannot make because the sides are so steep.

So after the boat trip (as it had rained a bit whilst we were out) we headed home for a hot shower and a quick change before another Chinese Dinner.

The last two days have been perfect, such fantastic scenery and all now controlled to stop any mining and hopefully protected for all time.