Sitting surrounded by the green trees and steep peaks of Milford Sound, waiting for the bus to depart. We've just competed our 2 hour cruise and the sun has come out. It has been a stunning and incredible experience, the dramatic scenery of Fjordland changing minute by minute as our boat toured the far reaches of Milford Sound in ever varying weather conditions.
We watched a rain shower come down the fjord then the clouds lift as we travelled out in the Tasman Sea.
On Wednesday morning, we said goodbye to our little cottage (I'm missing our little house but not necessarily the steep steps leading up to it ) and farewell to the city of Dunedin, but not before we filled our water bottle at the Speights Brewery tap... It's a local tradition apparently and is the same spring water used to make the local brew.
The rain brought waterfalls and our boat got in very close so we could feel the water cascading down...
The sun broke through and the summit of Mitre Peak (one mile above us) tempted us through the clouds, almost but not quite visible.
The word 'wow' was definitely overused as we experienced Milford Sound today. The journey into and out of Milford was also pretty spectacular... driving along the shores of Lake Te Anau, travelling through the Eglington and Hollyford valleys, catching our first glimpse of the snow capped peaks of the Southern Alps and using the amazing feat of engineering that is the Homer Tunnel to get into Milford Sound... it's a distance of just over 1km through the tunnel with a 1:10 descent on the way in. Apparently we are just a bit too early to participate in the naked tunnel run (held at the end of March) - that's naked as in "no clothes" and not just "no garmin" but running shoes and a head torch are allowed!
Back at the start of the week, we enjoyed a couple of lazy days in Dunedin - a walk on the beach at St Clair in the sunshine and a visit to the excellent Toitu Otago Settlers Museum - Jon particularly enjoyed the display on Dunedin's musical history (check out early 80s / new wave by The Chills and The Clean) and there was excellent cake in the cafe to keep me interested! We even found time to go the Theatre on Monday night... a local production of The Verdict by Agatha Christie kept us happily occupied.
On Tuesday, we braved the wind of the Otago Peninsula to go in search of albatross, penguins, seals and sea lions with the excellent Elm Wildlife tour company. They have their own conservation zone on land leased from a farm on the peninsula, where they are creating a safer and more natural environment to protect the penguins in particular. The royal albatross were soaring in the wind; the NZ fur seals were entertainIng to watch as the young pups played in the rock pools; the sea lions were play-fighting; and little blue penguins were moulting and the yellow eyed penguins were hopping over the beach and climbing up the rocks.
We travelled from Dunedin to Te Anau, arriving just in time to watch the sun set over the lake with a bag of chips! Battle resumed on Thursday in our holiday mini golf challenge and Jon has re-taken the lead after a disastrous back nine from me!
From Milford Sound, we're now travelling back to Te Anau and then on to Queenstown - the adrenaline capital of NZ! It's unlikely we'll be bungee jumping or parascending but you never know! One thing we definitely won't be doing is parkrunning... no events out here. Perhaps it's because of the giant wildlife!!!
Happy travels
Liz T
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