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Today we took a daytrip out to Milford Sound, which is in the heart of the Fiordland National Park, the largest national park in New Zealand. We had an early start, being picked up from Queenstown while it was still dark before making our way along the shore of Lake Wakatipu through some of the vast farms to the town of Te Anau. We had a short coffee stop here and had a walk down to the lake, before getting back on the bus to head into the national park. We started off driving through a rainforest made up mainly of beech trees, before coming out into a huge open valley called the Eglinton Valley, which had open grasslands in the middle and was surrounded by snow capped mountains. We then went on to the Mirror Lakes, where the water was so still and clear that it had almost perfect reflections of the surrounding mountains. Next up we went to a place called k*** Flat where we had a quick look in the information centre, before heading up into the mountains. We drove up mountains passes, and stopped off at a lookout to see the Hollyford Valley with Mount Christina towering above us, before driving down into another valley and stopping at Monkey Creek, where the water was so pure you could drink it right out of the stream. Then it was time to drive through a mountain, literally. We drove through the Homer Tunnel, coming out on the other side into another huge valley that went right down to sea level. On the way down the mountainside we saw some Keas, which are the worlds only alpine parrot and are also very destructive towards cars, before stopping off for a quick walk at a place called the Chasm, where we saw the force of water that has carved out a ravine in the solid mountain rock. Then it was finally time to go for our boat cruise on Milford Sound. We had 1 3/4 hours on the water, and during that time we got to cruise right along the coast out to the Tasman Sea and back again - the views were stunning, with crystal clear water surrounded by snow capped mountains and waterfalls rushing over the side of sheer rock faces; we even saw some fur seals sunbathing on the rocks, and an albatross flying across the water. We were especially lucky with the weather, as the sun was shining and we had bright blue skies, although we were told that it had been torrential rain for the last 2 weeks, so we had obviously picked the right day! After the cruise it was straight back on the bus for the long drive back to Queenstown, with only a quick food stop in Te Anau along the way. It was a long day but well worth it for the amazing scenery.
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