Today was a photographer's delight. We left Te Anau and drove through the Fiordland National Park, one of the wettest places in world. The 3M acre park is a Royal Heritage site and has outstanding scenery and history.
It was the site of the first white settlement in the country. With crystal clear streams, moss, lichen and fern covered trees, sheer cliffs, and cascading waterfalls, the landscape was simply spectacular.
Our destination was Milford Sound, one of the most picturesque fiords in New Zealand.
Along the way we followed an undulating, serpentine road (seat belts required) in a valley between rugged, towering snow capped peaks. We passed through the one lane Homer Tunnel, New Zealand's highest tunnel.
As the coach descended through hairpin turns, I had to swallow to pop my ears because of the sharp drop in elevation on the down the other side.
The mountains remind me a lot of the Rockies but in a
way that I imagine the Rockies would look if if took
a ride through them on late spring (something I've never done).
Milford Sound, named one of the Wonders of the World, was spectacular. After boarding our cruise ship with boxed lunches, the captain regaled us with history and stories in our 1 1/2 journey through the fiord and out to the Tasman Sea and back.
With blue skies, white billowing clouds and temps in the low 70s, we couldn't have asked for a better day. The whales, a rare site in the area, even came out to greet us.
At the end of our cruise, we reboarded the coach for a long ride to Queenstown, the "adventure capital of the world".
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