Fiordland

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After Queenstown we went further south to Te Anau, the gateway to the Fjords. We had pre-booked a cruise of Milford Sound, one of the larger but more commercialised fjords. The fact that it's called Milford Sound is actually a mistake, as it is actually a fjord (difference in shape of the river bed). They also mis-spelt the region!!

Our cruise was an evening cruise rather than in the day as these are usually quieter, and it definitely was... there were 6 of us on a 75 person capacity boat which meant they gave us all the food, wine and soup free! We sailed up the south shore first out to the Tasman Sea, and as it had been pouring with rain for the past day the waterfalls which are normally difficult to see were thundering down the mountain-side. It was a shame about the rain as we couldn't see our surroundings so well, but it comes alive when it's raining (apparently!)

On the way back in towards Milford we went past the largest of the falls, Bowen Falls, which the captain backed the boat under so we all could feel how cold the glaciel water was... which was nice...

The drive from Te Anau (where we were staying) and Milford was really beautiful, lasting about 2 hours and sadly for us, on the way back a coach had caught fire and blocked the only raod back to our hostel. This meant we were stuck in tiny Milford Sound with hundreds of other bus tour guests!!! In the end, it was cleared and we got back to Te Anau at about 9pm.

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