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Published: March 9th 2010
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We arrived at Te Anau on Friday around lunchtime not really knowing what to expect. We had driven through some hard rain and our fingers were crossed hoping we had left the rain behind. Our campsite was located just off Lake Te Anau and with the mountains - the start of the Fjordland mountains in the background it was like a perfect postcard setting. Lake Te Anau is a glacier formed lake and the second largest in New Zealand with its deepest point being 417m!! It was not the turquoise blue we had become accustomed to, but beautiful nonetheless.
After setting up our tent we decided to take a walk into town (town being a single street with a few tourist shops). We strolled along the lake shore, appreciating our surroundings as we walked. We went to the Fjordland visitor centre to get an idea of some walks in the Fjordland National Park. Despite the weather being so glorious we decided to risk it and visit the National Park the following day - giving us a full day to explore. We enjoyed walking around looking in all the tourist shops and then soaked up the afternoon sun near our tent.
Early Morning Mist
Valley leading into Fiordland Who would have thought that we would catch a tan in New Zealand!!! And after speaking to our neighbour camper, who told us that they have just had 4 days of rain, we realised how fortunate we really were.
And the good weather continued into the following day. Te Anau is within the Otago Province but borders with the Fjordland National Park, which is part of the New Zealand World Heritage Area. It is a mountainous area containing many sounds (better known as fjords) which connect to the Tasman Sea. And thus you can imagine they get thousands of tourists (like us) in their busloads all wanting to see the famous Milford Sound - as it is the most easily accessible fjord to see (on boat).
We left relatively early (to try beat the traffic) as there is only one road in and out of Milford Sound and the books had warned that the road does get busy. We had decided that we would not do the cruise though and rather walk around and try to see as much as we could by foot. As it was such a beautiful day, we took our time and stopped at
many viewing points along the way. With the mountains towering around us, some still snow-capped, we were in awe and it is easy to see why it has got World Heritage status. It is hard to describe the beauty and our photos do not do it justice. We stopped at Mirror Lakes, Lake Gunn and the Chasm - beautiful rocks carved by the fast flowing Cleddau River. It took us just over 2 hours to get to the end - Milford Sound and we were not disappointed. Huge fjords (carved out by glaciers) were ahead of us leading to the sea, we could not have asked for a better day to view them. We took our time walking around, taking photos and marvelling at this wonderful creation. We stopped for lunch at one of the viewpoints off the road high in the mountains, and then we slowly headed back.
We have seen such a variety of beauty and when we stop to think about it, realise how fortunate we are to be able to do this trip. We have our fare share of complaints along the way, but this makes it all worthwhile and we are excited for what
Homer Tunnel
Queing to go through the tunnel still lies ahead. Billy has done an incredible job with all the planning and booking, and everything has gone so smoothly thus far. We could not have imagined better!!
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Hayley Bruton
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wow!
Guys i am speechless at your stunning photography ..well done okes...looks amazing...wanna see the photos when yu get back but i am scared i will age 5 years before we get thro them all..we gonna have to do an australia night..then a nz night//etc etc miss you