Day 9
The south-west of New Zealand's south island is a dramatically shaped landscape carved by glaciers over a number of ice ages. Apparently sea inlets which are shaped by glaciers are called fiords whereas those shaped by flooded valleys are called sounds, which explains why this whole area is aptly named Fiordland.

Fiordland is the region home to Milford Sound, without a doubt New Zealand's most photographed area of landscape. It also topped the list of 101 things to see in NZ. Confusingly, Milford Sound is not a sound at all, it is a Fiord.

First stop was Te Anau, a pleasant village on the shore of Lake Te Anau, NZ's second largest lake. We decided to book a couple of trips whilst there, a trip to the glow worm caves across the lake and a cruise on Milford Sound.

Day 10
The boat to the glow worm caves departed early from Te Anau and the weather was decidedly British looking so we weren't too keen to get up. After much effort, we dragged ourselves un-showered into the front of the car (nice eh?!) and set off.

The lake is about 480m deep in places which gives you an idea of how big the surrounding mountains are. It was a half hour journey to the cave entrance. We had to crouch low for about 20m to get into the cave until we could stand properly.

Our guide pointed out some glow worms on the ceiling of the cave before leading us further in. They are like tiny LEDs, some brighter than others, which, when grouped together, look quite magical.

One of the most impressive things about the cave however, is how fast and violently the river flows inside. There are large waterfalls, rapids and pools everywhere. They believe these caves gave Te Anau its name, which means 'caves of swirling water' in Maori.

Eventually we reached the small boats that would take us to the large glow worm cave and climbed in. We all had to be silent as we made our way along the water. When we reached the end of the tunnel, it was like looking at a starry sky on a clear night. Thousands of tiny neon blue lights dotted the cave, often within touching distance.

On our return, we were shown an informative video about the worms and the local wildlife and also given free tea and coffee - result!

When the boat got back to Te Anau we immediately set off for Milford Sound so that we'd be there in time for our cruise. On the way, we met up with our Danish astronaut friends when they spotted our car. It turned out they were on the same cruise as we were too. We felt less bad about being kept in by the weather when we heard that they had caved in and spent $120 on a night in a motel.

The road to Milford Sound is breathtaking enough on its own, with sheer drops, a huge tunnel and enormous mountains for entertainment. We lost count of the amount of times we had to pull in to take yet another photograph.

Our cruise was the last of the day, which was brilliant because there were hardly any other customers and we were able to buy discounted sandwiches too. It took us round the Sound and slightly into the choppy Tasman sea whilst we listened to an audio commentary about the landscape and wildlife.

There are loads of enormous waterfalls which fall into the Sound and I think I took about 50 pictures of each one. Fortunately I wasn't stupid enough to stay still whilst the pilot dipped the front of the boat into one of them. Even more fortunately, one bloke was, which was very entertaining for everyone else of course.

In terms of wildlife, we saw loads of seals, some kayakers, the swedes we met on Fraser Island (briefly) but unfortunately no dolphins. That night, we camped with the Danes and chatted over dinner before hitting the hay to escape the sand flies.

Day 11
The weather somehow found a way to become even worse than before, although we were assured that the region had had an unbelievably long dry period just before we arrived, great!

Feeling a bit like the weather, we paid $10 each to go to Te Anau's cinema and watch the popular film of Fiordland's scenery. Both the film and the cinema were made by a local helicopter pilot as a little project for friends and family but apparently he just couldn't leave it alone and kept going back and adding to it. The result was a half hour film of spectacular scenic shots set to epic music and watched in a very comfortable cinema. It reminded us of our gold class experience in Melbourne. Well, everything but the weather outside!

After the film, I finally gave in and bought a cheap jacket to keep the rain off and we headed back to a free campsite (we did enquire at a site with showers and kitchens but the price was sky high). Back in the field we gave in to temptation and during a dry patch we filled the solar shower with hot water, reversed into an enclosed spot and showered! Was so good to feel clean again...although pip enjoyed it a bit too much, using all the warm water before my go.

Earlier in the day we managed to swap our DVDs and I managed to get Pip to watch the whole of the lord of the rings (the second) without falling asleep. She is now suddenly interested being in the country it was filmed in!