Parklands Motel Te Anau

... There is also some avalanche signs here. The road drops very steeply round a number of switchbacks and you have arrived at the top of the Sound (Fjord). I had made great time and there was unbroken sunshine and it was warm. I had arrived in time to take a cruise on the Sound so signed up and hopped on the boat.<br><br>Milford Sound is much smaller than the Doubtful Sound but is equally dramatic and quite different to cruise down. I shall refrain from banging on ...

... with a drop of what looks like hundreds, if not thousands of feet on one or both sides. It's unreal up here. Clouds swirl below me and all around. It's like actually being in the sky, that's the only way I can describe it.  I reach Mt. Luxmore, and while it's not necessary to complete the Track, I decide to take a detour and go for the summit. It's only, what, fifteen hundred meters? From the looks of it, I'm already pretty close. The climb is not that bad, it's more of a steep walk ...

... same price as 2 rooms in a motel. This allowed us (Michael) to cook at home & spend the money we saved on wine. This was to be the pattern throughout our stay in New Zealand. Te Anau is the most convenient access point for the wrongly named Milford Sound (it's actually a fjord). You can't stay at Milford so we took the 2 hour coach trip to Milford Sound, piloted by a chatty driver. He obviously recognised there were some ...

... an hour of using the Internet I ventured below stairs to inform the proprietors that we had finished. "good" proclaimed the jerseyed man, so I settled the dues with his less stroppy spouse. I then asked if might be able to gratefully take advantage of their convenience. A look of horror crossed the womans face, so abject that an onlooker may have surmised that I had just delivered news of a loved ones death. She ...

... Deep underwater Observatori" on podrem veure fauna marina que normalment es troba entre els 50 i 500 m de profunditat: diversitat de corals i peixos. Tornarem a coberta per gaudir de la darrera mitja hora de trajecte. Seran les 3.15 quan tornarem pel mateix cami que vam arribar, ja que no n'hi ha d'altre. Arribarem a quarts de 6pm a Te Anau. Si dema fa bon temps potser farem un vol aeri per Doubtful Sound (plan A) o una ruta amb Jetboat (plan B)... ja es veura! Per molts anys DU!!! :)

... stunning. I saw lots of Riflemen birds (NZ's smallest). The last hut was on Lake Manapouri and quite peaceful, despite the flock of sandflies that descended on our feet, hands and neck as soon as we sat down. Today we cheated on our way out and stopped at Rainbow Bridge and took the bus out back to the backpackers. Despite having plenty of food on this trip we still managed to stuff ourselves at lunch on mince pies and ice cream (I see a theme ...

... to the v shaped<br>valleys which are carved by water. At the Tasman Sea, we saw some fur<br>seals in abundance, basking on the rocks. The current was too strong<br>and bumpy so the boat didn't go out too far. On the way back, we went<br>into "arms" of the fiord, which were peaceful and tranquil. In Crooked<br>Arm, they shut off the engines and power for a couple minutes, so we<br>could all just ...

... at the hostel pointed out that it is all public land. Fortunately we were staying at Fox where you can walk easily to the safe distance of about 50m from the glacier - any closer risks a friendly tap on the head from falling ice.<br><br>West coast rain gave us a couple of comfy pit days watching videos and reading books - I can't remember the word for profiting from someone else's misfortune but we happened to be around when the owner of a ...

... see all the little bits on the way up though.<br><br>When we finally reached Milford Sound itself - we went on a boat trip round the Fiord - which was awesome - if not a slightly soaking experience - we didn't get to see dolphins though like Tara did last time she was here - I gues it had something to do with the weather... it takes about 2 hours to complete the tour but you get to see all sorts of cool stuff - and before we went back to shore the ...