Te Anau to Franz Josef Glacier

We arrived in Te Anau later on 28.3 by which time the sun was shining again. Built on the second largest lake in NZ Te Anau centres mainly on the tourist industry with hotels, camp sites & souvenir shops all close to the shoreline. The main purpose of our being here was to book the trip to Milford Sound which we did for the next day.
The coach ride to Milford goes north from the town the whole length of Lake Te Anau through river valleys & up into the Fiordland National Park. The scenery is, as ever, stunning and then we arrive at the Homer Tunnel which leads into the Sound itself. The driver asked us to close our eyes as we left the tunnel.
Nothing could have prepared us for what we saw. It seemed as we though we had entered into a granite arena thousands of feet in the air surrounded by walls of sheer faced mountains. Then we looked down & saw the road zig-zagging beneath us disappearing into rain forest. What a view!
Then to the boat trip itself which saw us sailing down the fiord with waterfalls, some as high as a 50 storey tower block, cascading down the sides almost on top of us. (The fiord is that deep that the boat can sail right to the edge). We had hoped to see dolphins but saw only a few fur seals lounging on some rocks.
The morning saw us sailing further along the fiord out into the Tasman Sea in the hope of finding the dolphins but it was not to be. Still we did get some good views of the Sound as the sun came up.
We got back to Te Anau at Sunday lunchtime & were off again to see the Glow-Worm caves but they had to be seen in absolute silence & no photos allowed.
Monday 31st of March! My birthday! So what did we do? We visited a power station. Not just any power station. This was the Lake Manipouri hydro-electric station situated 2km down a spiral road under a mountain. When it was built they also had to build a road out to the sea to bring in all supplies. Because there is no space for vehicles to turn round under the mountain all the heavy equipment & machinery was bought in on trailers & reversed down a 1 in 10 hill to be unloaded. Apparently 6 hours was a good time for this.
Tuesday saw us moving on to Kingston where we had a ride on the Kingston Flyer, an old 20’s steam train, and then Queenstown, home of the bungee jump and any other lunatic sport you can think of. So after we booked for one (Ha Ha only joking). The most energetic thing we did was go up on the gondola overlooking the town to watch the jumpers & also the paragliders on yet another glorious day. We also saw kiwis for the first time in the bird park. This only because the park had reversed the bird’s time cycle keeping their enclosure dark in the daytime so that they would be awake.
In the evening we sailed across Lake Wakatipu on the vessel TSS Earnslaw, which was built at about the same time as the Titanic, had dinner at a sheep ranch & then watched an exhibition of sheep dog handling & sheep shearing given by a shepherd with a similar line in patter to Jethro.
Thursday saw us on our way again this time stopping at Arrowtown & Cromwell, two former gold mining communities, where you can still find gold if you are lucky before going on to Wanaka. We booked a full day Lord of the Rings tour for the following day.
Friday we did the tour starting at 9am & getting back at 6pm exhausted. In between we visited approx 25 locations where filming had taken place including retracing our steps to Arrowtown & Queenstown.
The day started fine but ended with us high over Queenstown & the wind blowing & the rain falling. A fun day nonetheless with the party of 6 playing with replicas from the films & dressing up in cloaks.
We spent Saturday on the road travelling first through the lush green forested Haast Pass. On the way we stopped at the Blue Pools, a Kiwi must see. The only way to reach them is by crossing a swing bridge which is just a few planks tied with ropes & it really does swing. Then south along the coast road to Jackson’s Bay, the most southerly inhabited point on the west coast. We had been told that we might see dolphins & penguins here but again we were disappointed. After returning to Haast we went north to Franz Josef Glacier to stop for the night.

Pics. of Milford Sound from Tasman Sea, Paragliding over Queenstown, Genuine NZ Roadsine & me at Blue Pools