Fiordland

Ok. Our butts are freezing.

Energized by our lazy days in Queenstown, we left for Fiordland. This huge National Park is famous for its fabulous mountain scenery and Norwegian-like fiords called the Milford Sound. From now on, it shall also be known as a place where we broke several "How many layers of clothes can you have on" -records. After being able to see my breath at 5 p.m I put on every piece of clothing I had for the night and I must say, resemblance to a sumo-wrestler was striking:)

We were pleasantly surprised to discover that both of us were still breathing the following morning. We woke up before sunrise and started our final drive towards Milford sound to get to our boat. On the way we stopped to marvel at native and rare Kea mountain birds and while we were taking pictures and saying how cute they were, one jumped on our open car door and pecked a huge hole in it. Right! Not so cute anymore!

The drive to Milford Sound from the nearest town Te Anau is an experience itself. Superb mountains, lakes and glaciers. One also passes through the Homer tunnel, a one-kilometer-long road tunnel which also runs steeply downhill - a spooky place, claustrophobic's nightmare. A bit like Indiana Jones in the Temple of Doom.

At Milford we hopped on a ferry that cruised around the lake for 2 hours, slowing down at waterfalls and offering great views on 1692m Mitre Peak. Milford Sound is a great cruise even rain or shine, waterfalls are more intense during the rain but the mountain views are naturally better when it's clear. We scored a nice balance, saw some nice waterfalls and the mountains. Not bad at all!

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