Milford Sound, Wednesday

Early start again today, out of hotel and away in the coach by 7am in the dark, but we have quite bit of ground to cover, especially with so many road works and single lane traffic testrictions ahead as we head to Milford Sound. Morning tea stop of Te Anau where we will return for the evening. 

Very picturesque drive once the sun was up. Winding roads through Eglinton and Hollyford valleys with a stop at Mirror Lakes for a photo opportunity. 

Through the Homer tunnel which our driver said was 500 metres but seemed much longer than that.

Arrived at Milford Sound witha bit of time to spare before we head out on our 2 hour cruise which explored the full length of this pristine fiord. Shame there was a lot of cloud cover as more direct sunlight would really have made it magnificent. The brochure stated "See towering mountains climb straight out of the sea, be entranced by the verdant rainforest as it clings to sheer rockwalls and watch in awe as cascading waterfalls tumble hundreds of metres into the sea below." We certainly saw all of that, but without the awe and wow factor. 

Long 2 1/2 hour drive back to Te Anau where we have a really good buffet dinner, best yet as far as buffets go, with outstanding seafood chowder that would give the San Francisco chowder a run for its money! Time to head off to bed and aim for an early night, which doesn't always seem to happen. Good weather day again today that was a bit cool, but no rain, which is now forecast for tomorrow afternoon. We'll see...

And before I sign off for the day, “Happy heavenly birthday mum”.