March 9th-12th Friday-Sunday Te Anua and Milford Sound

March 9th-12th Friday-Sunday Te Anua and Milford Sound

Thanks to everyone for the fun letters and boxes.  We really appreciate it.  The kids are doing great in school.  I love the uniforms, but the all wool shorts, socks, and jumpers take forever to air dry in this wet area.

On Friday 9/March/2012 we continued our exploration of the north and west and drove up to Te Anua.  This beautiful little city is on the Lake of the same name and borders one of the world’s greatest treasures, the Fiordland National Park.  We scuttled along Lake Front Drive to our hotel, The Distinction.  We had a nice two bedroom villa and enjoyed treat night before turning in.

Saturday 10/March/2012 we had the breakfast we had brought with us before walking along the lake to the Fiordland Visitor Center.  We then walked to an aviary.  We enjoyed seeing morepork, kea and kaka.  The highlight was the pukekos and the takahe (a larger and plumper version of the pukeko).  Next, we headed to the beach where the kids enjoyed skipping stones.

The kids got an aerial taste of the Fiordland at the local cinema that shows a thirty plus minute show about the area before we ate lunch.  After that we headed to the wharf to catch a Real Journey’s boat to some more glow worm caves that are only accessible by water.

It was a very pleasant trip and the cave was spectacular.  This cave is much younger than the one we traveled through in Rotorua, but it was more intimate and the kids had a blast.  Unfortunately, they don’t allow pictures in there, but it was amazing.  Once again we were reminded not only of the wonder of NZ, which they are so keen to protect, but their whimsical/non-litigious attitude.  The entrance to the cave required me to almost crawl for the first ten to fifteen feet and it was wet and slippery throughout!

Tara spots something on Lake Te Anua.

Brody in the section of walk that reminded of us Snow White!

A Takahe (left) and a Pukeko (right)

The real journeys boat that was taking us to the glowworm caves.

Gabe and Tara on the top deck.

Brody at the cave entrance.

Sunday 11/March/2012

Just when you think things can’t get any grander in this country, they do.  We woke up early (yes, even by Livermore standards).  Everyone but Brody was woken by the unusual and unheard of sound in our house . . . an alarm!  We drove in the dark to Milford Sound.  The highlight was a 1.2 km single lane tunnel.  The kids loved it, but we were terrified as the stop lights and overhead lights don’t turn on until after 9 am (remember it is a SINGLE lane).  After a breakfast in the car we headed to the Wharf and took a Jucy Cruise.  We purposefully took the early cruise to avoid the tour buses.

It was pouring rain but that only added to the grandeur as lots of waterfalls popped up.  It rains about two-thirds of the years here so we expected to get wet.  We even saw some bottlenose dolphins and NZ fur seal pups.  The boat was fairly empty and the staff was incredibly nice.  So, despite the rain, we had an amazing time.  It is impossible to capture the larger than life scale of this ice age carved area.  There were many places my camera only captured a third of the cliff wall facing us.  Dad and Gabe were even brave enough to stand under Stirling Falls (one of the permanent waterfalls fed by melting glaciers).  After the amazing cruise we drove to Te Anua for lunch before heading back to Winton.  We will be laying low for the next few weeks!

The tunnel on the way to Milford Sound.

The first water fall after leaving the wharf.

The "U" shape is apparently from the ice age ice scraping through.

What was amazing was the layers, all with waterfalls from the fresh rain.

The Four Sisters Waterfalls.

Bottlenose dolphins.

A baby NZ fur seal with its nose up in the air.

The kids enjoy tea time on the boat.