Te Anau,
New Zealand
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Next day we headed for the famous Milford Sound, we had reached the Fjordlands! We took a walk through some woods and it looked like an alien world the trunks and branches were covered in green mossy stuff it was eiree but beautiful in its own way, this lead us to a lake which was so clear and inviting - apart from the obvious cold, all the water we've seen here looks so clean! Onwards and we took an epic detour through the Hollyford Valley to a stunning waterfall - after all the exercsion we stopped for lunch!! We carried on and started getting close to Milford Sound...as we climbed higher through the mountains it started to snow we passed through a mountain and then descended once again and the snow stopped and the scenery and trees changed quite dramatically! Finally we reached our destination which was somthing of a disapointment partly due to the fact that the tide was out and partly because i think you need to spend several hundred dollers on a boat / helicopter trip to really see its awesome beauty! Don't get me wrong - it was well worth the journey but the end was no more spectacular than the drive to get there!! On our way back we stopped at mirror lakes which were a very quere and eiry green colour and reflected the mountains beautifully! Finally we were back in Te Anau where we spent the evening infront of a log fire, very pleased to be in the warmth!
The following morning i was staring out the window and it suddenly dawned on me that everything was white and I was looking at snow (bit slow sometimes)!! This was our last day with the car so we headed up to Queenstown where we were to drop it off! Driving through the snow it felt like Christmas all over again but this time how it should be snowy and cold!! It was a beautiful drive to get there as the road followed lake Wakatipu and yes it was very reminisent of Scotland! As we got closer to Queenstown the snow dissapeared lulling us into a false sense of security that it mite be warmer there - no such luck!! After finding ourselves some accomodation we took advantage of the last few hours of car use and went up to Glenorchy (aka the top fo the lake!) and went for a walk around their lagoon which was surrounded by snow topped mountains...all stunning.....this country is incredible!!
