Saturday 28th February 2009

We set off at 10.00am having had a good breakfast. It was warm and sunny and we were eager to start the next stage of our holiday.

Having said that, just as we came into Queenstown there was a layer of cloud suspended over Lake Wakatipu. We drove along the length of the lake and have never experienced anything like it – the lake was shrouded in cloud for at least 20kms.

We made a detour to our journey at Kingston for a coffee break and what a surprise. We found a café at the end of the road in part of an old railway station. Just as we got there, The Kingston Flyer, a 1927 Pacific Class steam locomotive was in full steam ready to take passengers down the 14km stretch of line – the NZ equivalent to the Watercress Lime?

Fully refreshed I was at the wheel. I think all of NZ must have read my last blog warning that I would be on the road, because for the remaining 110kms to Te Anau I could count the number of other cars on both hands.

We arrived at the Bella Vista Motel in sunshine at about 3.00pm – time enough to have a look around before getting ready for dinner – How lovely not to have to cook!! After dinner we walked back to the motel in the rain.

Sunday 1st March 2009

A very grey day dawned for our trip to Milford Sound. There is only one road in and out of Milford - 116kms long – but there many photo opportunities along the way. We left at 10 expecting to make many stops and take advantage of the attractions along the way. We had a cruise booked at 3.00pm to go out along the Sound so had plenty of time.

The weather was against us from the start as it was too wet to stop and with a low cloudbase there was not much to see.We had a 45min walk through a red beech tree forest. It was weird – very quiet - there were hardly any birds.

We arrived at the Sound at 1.30 and managed to get on an earlier boat. Despite the weather we thoroughly enjoyed it; the landscape was phenomenal as you can see.

On the return voyage the captain steered the boat towards the edge of the rocks so we could get a better view of the waterfalls. At one stage though we thought he wasn’t going to stop as we ended up almost underneath it. We all got very wet. It was wonderful. As the cruise ended, the boat mooring at the terminus, out came the sun!!

We decided to head back and see some of the attractions we missed on the way down. One was called The Chasm - a 22m deep ravene where the Cleddau river has cut through the rock carving out fascinating formations.

As we got closer to our motel, the light improved, the roads were dry – yes it had been a much better day back at base!

Never mind – Tomorrow Queenstown beckons