Well the earliest start yet. 6.00am breakfast then on the bus at 7 and off we set on a 4 hr journey to the sea. First coffee stop at a road side cafe that I don’t remember as i was snoring lol. Then onto Te anu. Quick stop for a bite to eat even if it is only 10am. more like a coffee and pick up a pie for later. Pies are quite common in these parts and quite tasty. Not that I would eat the venison ones as every time we passed a field of deer I thought of Bambi !!

Plan A was coach to Milford sound and fly back to Queenstown from the airfield there, but it was plain that this was less likely to happen by the hour. A front was coming in. Wind, rain and mist. 2 hrs later we came upon the Fiordland national Park wherein Milford sound resides. Lovely scenery then through the tunnel dug through some of the hardest rock around, which is y its probably only one lane. Reached Milford sound (Named after Milford haven in wales) and got our 1.00pm sailing. A tour of the sound reveled it to actually be a fijord and as Rudyard Kipling once said the eight wonder of the world. With the rain the waterfalls down the sheer cliffs, which rise more than 1200 m each side, where spectacular to say the least. The forests climbing these cliffs where just amazing. Birds and seals dotted the water and when we reached the sea and turned round I watched it all again with eager fascination.

Once we got back to land it was clear that it would be a coach home as the rain came down in sheets. If you saw the sheer cliffs either side of the airfield you would know why there was no flights in or out. 4 hours later we got back to Queenstown a sandwich and bed as I had a long day tomorrow. Would I do that 8 hrs on a coach again to see such a sight? of course. Its a Historical site and something that I would have regretted for the rest of my life if I had missed it.

Why do we always wait for the storm to pass when we can learn to dance in the rain…