A sound idea

Day 15 Milford Sound (Te Anau)

On the road early as we had booked a cruise on Milford Sound for 11.45am. We were slightly concerned that after our visit to Scandinavia that we would be all fjorded out and were now heading off to cruise another one. The road from Te Anau was very picturesque as are so many routes in New Zealand.

We had chosen a small boat that promised to only fill to half capacity so there would be plenty of space on board. The captain tried to keep everyone entertained with commentary that included very lame dad jokes, but it was still much better than any pre-recorded commentary.

The scenery might not be as pretty as Norway but it was more rugged and natural looking (to us anyway). Interestingly Captain Cook had charted and sailed three times around the South Island but never found Milford as its narrow entrance at an angle makes it appear from a distance as just a bay, it requires closer inspection to discover that it is a fjord. We managed to see sea lions and penguins, but there was no visible fish life. We sailed as far out as the edge of the Tasman Sea before turning around and heading back.

On the drive back as we waited to go through the Homer tunnel we saw a naughty kea landing on cars. Apparently they like to use the cars to sharpen their beaks and enjoy stripping the rubber off the wind screen wipers etc., at least they stayed away from us. On our return to Te Anau we stopped off at a few of the majestic view points that we had rushed past on our way in.