It was an early start this morning to catch the bus to Milford Sound.  Again it was another of these times where I bumped into someone where I had met already.  This time it was Lisa who I had met at the Greymouth YHA.

[thumb:1416:r]First stop on the way out was Te Anau for coffee.  We had a nice clear view of the lake there and various boats tied up on it.  However this was all I had a chance to take with no time for the glow worm caves as we were off to Milford Sound.  [newline]

Second stop was a brief one to use the last toilets before Milford Sound, shortly after this we stopped in the Eglington Valley to take in the hills and the native trees.  Climbing higher, with the weather now having changed to rain, we had another stop to take a path through the forest to look at some waterfalls carving beautiful smooth depressions out of the rock.

[thumb:1419:r]Pressing on we passed through the first tunnel which at certain times of the year is closed due to avalanche risk.  A brief on the way was in Monkey Creek between the two road tunnels that give access to Milford Sound.  This is one of the two safe places where it is safe from avalanches.  The driver made the point to us that the spring water from here was giving him his youthful looks.

 Arriving at Milford Sound it was out of the bus and into the ferry terminal to board the Monarch for our cruise on the Fjord.  There a lots of beautiful waterfalls falling into the Fjord with the rainwater feeding them.  Most of the distant hills were lost in the mist however.[thumb:1426:l][thumb:1427:l][thumb:1435:l][thumb:1438:l][newline]

No dolphins, whales or penguins on this trip though.  Obviously too wet for them and they were keeping out of sight.

Trip back to Queenstown was quite uneventful.  No one on the bus wanted to stump up the $550 for the 40 minute flight by helicopter back to Queenstown.  All in all quite a 4 hour journey each way to see some beautiful sceenary.