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Awesome in New Zealand is used all the time from a shopping trip to booking in at the camp site. But Milford Sound really is awesome.
Yesterday New Zealand resembled a bleak summers day in scotland with heavy rain showers, wind and a few sunny intervals. Consequently we arrived at Te Anau at lunch time as we weren't distracted by amazing views! Feeling optimistic that this turn in the weather was just a blip we booked a trip to Milford Sound.
And today the weather was lovely and we had a truly awsome trip.
The road from Te Anau follows the shores of lake Te Anau into mixed forest. Gradually the road climbs past raging rivers and stonking scenery up into the mountains until it reaches a shear wall of rock. In 1955 they completed a tunnel through the mountain so we didn't have to climb over the pass and down a set of iron ladders that travellers used until then. The road descended quickly on hair pin bends to arrive at Milford Sound busy with tourists waiting for a trip on one of the many tour boats.
And what sites to see. This bit of New Zealand is known as fiordland and for good reason. Five thousand metre mountains shoot up from sea level bisected by giant u shaped glacial valleys. Beech woodland clings onto to vertical slabs of rock and patches of snow still cover the tops of the highest peaks.
Our three hour boat trip took us along Milford Sound into the Tasman Sea passing 500 foot waterfalls, seal colonies and stonking scenery. And the sun shone all day long. The scale of the mountains was draw dropping and yes, awesome.
Our trip was accomaed by running commentaries from our coach driver and or moari guide on the boat. Our coach driver had a strong nz accent and at one point urged us to look out of the window at a 'pig' or in proper english a peg. One poor lady from the usa got very confused as to why we should be looking for farm animals. Our guide on the boat had an even worse taste in jokes than Mike but also had some new awesome mega facts like the fiordland national park is the same size as Wales.
After returning to Te Anau we had a lovely meal of scallops and local lamb at a small and friendly restaurant.
Tomorrow on to Tuatapere to prepare for our three day tramp along the Hump Ridge Track.
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Chris & Brian We've been following all the news & events on the blog . Many thanks as it's confirmed many of the locations/ activities etc that we wanted to do! We're now in Singapore ( as from 8 hrs ago) and so our adventure has now begun. Feeling absolutely shattered cos of lack of sleep but trying to keep going until this eve. Managed to fit in round Singapore open top bus trip, botanical gardens & orchid gardens this afternoon and we're going to end our day with a trip & meal in Chinatown. Do you leave NZ this w/e? We arrive in Christchurch on Sat a.m. C& B xx