Following Joyce & Paul's Travels in Retirement

The weather report for Friday was mixed – some rain in the afternoon was possible. We were picked up by our driver at 7:30 to make the 2+ hour drive thru Fiordland National Park to Milford Sound and our boat cruise there.

The morning had a great start – crisp but some blue sky and sun. We had a different view over Lake Te Anau from the evening before.

We had to stop for a flock of sheep at the side of the road that was being moved to another location. It gave us a real view of the herding we had seen a sample of the day before.

Our first main stop was in the Eglinton Valley. The Valley was used as the ‘Misty Mountains’ in the ‘Fellowship of the Ring’.

Our next stop was Mirror Lakes where we had some good reflections despite not having ideal conditions.

We had some very low clouds making for some dramatic photos as we travelled along.

At one of our stops we were lucky enough to see a Kea bird. A type of parrot native to South Island New Zealand, it has a beautiful display of orange under its wings when it flies.

The Kea bird is a protected bird in New Zealand.

They are known to go after the rubber strips on cars, causing damage. They will also pick up things left lying around.

Finally we arrived at Milford Sound and our boat, the Milford Haven.

We had clouds and a bit of mist but not rain.

The water in Milford Sound is a very dark green in the top layers, due to the native bush and extreme rainfall. They average about 680 cm of rain a year, with 182 days in the year being wet.

Milford Sound is actually a fjord which is carved by glaciers.

We saw two major waterfalls in Milford Sound The first one is Stirling Falls and the second is Lady Bowen Falls.

Three times the height of Niagara Falls.

We arrived back at the dock and met or driver to return us to Te Anau.

We made it back to our hotel in Te Anau without rain.

After we ate a great meal of lamb shoulder, Paul went for a long walk through town. He did an 8 km walk and got back to the hotel about 30 minutes before it dumped rain.

By morning the rain was done and we were on our way back to Queenstown.

See my next post for more about that trip.

The gravel road we travelled is a public road, but generally not well travelled. Parts of it is used by these living on the two stations. The occasional fisherman comes in to a stream and some cyclists and hikers travel it.

We had a view of the snow-capped mountains as we travelled through the Von Valley.

A few old buildings remain on the property. Some were leftover from days when shepherds stayed out away from the homestead to tend the sheep.

We stopped at Mavora Lakes where a short walk brought us to a suspension bridge.

Marvora Lakes is where several scenes from Lord of the Rings were filmed. one scene is where Aragon, Legolas and Gimli follow the trail of Merry and Pippin who escaped the orcs on the edge of the Fanfom Forest.

After several hours, we reached Te Anau. We checked into our luxurious hotel, and went out to the town where we found an Italian restaurant for a pizza supper overlooking Lake Te Anau.

Tomorrow we drive to Milford Sound.