Milford Sound...

Last Saturday we said our goodbyes to Rich and Vick, after over a month together travelling and set off on the early bus to a very foggy Te Anau. See you back in the UK guys! Te Anau is a nice little place on the shores of the appropriately of Lake Te Anau, which apparently is the second largest lake in NZ, not that we could see much of it due to the fog!

The next day we went on a trip to Milford Sound. Now, you may or may not have heard of this place, so for the benefit of those of you that haven't, Milford Sound is a very impressive fiord with mountains that tower a mile straight up from the edge of the water and waterfalls that drop water from over half a mile up down sheer cliffs straight into the water. Just to get some perspective, if you look at the picture below, you'll see a tiny dot at the base of the cliffs on the right of the picture. That tiny dot is a really big tour boat, the size of the one balancing on Clare's head in the next shot:

Our tour boat took us straight underneath some of the mighty falls, where we got very wet standing like chumps at the front of the boat. All good fun!

While we were out on our cruise, a pod of bottlenose dolphins decided to join in the fun and tag along:

The day after Milford Sound, we took a trip to Te Anau glow-worm caves, which was really cool. We went in a little boat up this river winding it's way through a series of caves, deep underground in pitch darkness. As you round a corner, it's as if there's a starry night above you all of a sudden, but instead of stars, these are little critters shining lights in their bums trying to catch food! No pics I'm afraid, as cameras are banned as they scare the little fellows. Oh well, imagine a boat ride on a starry night, and you're about there!

Just to finish, I couldn't resist posting this pic of me and Rich mucking about at the big boy's toys museum in Wanaka. Enjoy!

-Si