Lake Te Anau and Milford Sound

We moved yet further southwards to Te Anau and yet again the weather was reasonably kind to us, with sunshine and a few clouds.

On the way we managed to see the old steam train "The Kingston Flyer" which was just about to set off on its journey. It was great to get a glimpse of such a shimmering piece of machinery in action.

We arrived in Te Anau in time to book a trip to the Glowworm Caves across the other side of Lake Te Anau (the second biggest lake in NZ). Well, talk about the sun shining out of your bum!!!! It certainly does with these creatures - but unfortunately we were not allowed to take our cameras into the caves, so you'll just have to take our word for it!!! They certainly were an interesting phenomenon, living just 200m into the caves in total darkness. They eat and shine for 9 months, only to live 2 days as flies - not much of an existence!!! The light shines out of their rear if they are hungry - and boy were there some empty stomachs there!!!

Today we have been to Milford Sound for the day - with an early start to miss the crowds on the coach tours. Unfortunately the day dawned overcast and drizzling but we had been warned that it rains every other day in Milford Sound - apparently it is one of the wettest places on earth!!!! Undeterred we made the 120km drive, booked the next boat out and off we went. Despite the weather the scenery was magnificent and the waterfalls were in full flow (one of the benefits of the rain!!).

We also went to the Underwater Observatory - a facility that allows you to go underwater and see all the sea creatures in their natural habitat!!! It seemed like we were the captors and they were observing us, rather than the other way round!!!

By the time we did the return journey the sun had come out so the views were great and the whole thing another amazing trip for our memory log!!!

On the journey back we stopped off at the Mirror Lakes where - yes you guessed it - they mirror the surrounding countryside!!! The sun was still shining so again we got some stunning pictures!!!

We will now move across the South Island to the East Coast city of Dunedin for a couple of days and then begin the journey back north.