September 24 Te Anau - Milford Sound

Have a total Canadian moment, when Net says to me, "Um, what side of the road are you driving on". Quickly move over to the correct side of the road. Good thing this country has non existent traffic!

We are heading off to Milford Sound for an over night cruise.

Milford Sound is a fiordland, that was carved out by glacial ice. It is about 119km away from Te Anau and is quite possibly one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to. In fact is is the most beautiful. The drive itself is on one of the most scenic roads, with sheer mountains and exotic temperate rainforests. There are waterfalls falling off the mountains. It's just stunning.

We were told that 4 days previously the roads in the area had been closed cos of bad weather. It is still considered winter time in NZand you need to have chains in your car from May - Nov. Luckily the weather has been great for us so we had no problems.

There is also the Homer Tunnel. It's a tunnel that goes through a mountain. It is 1219m long and unlined. It slopes down toward Milford side with a gradient of 1 in 10. It's really scary, when traffic is coming in the other direction. A few screaming moments from us girls!

We get on on our cruise and take a speed boat tour. We see Fiordland crested penguins, a large pod of bottlenose dolphin and a fur seal.

End the night star gazing and talking to one of the ship staff, Keiran.

Speed Boat

Fjordland Crested PENGUIN