To Milford sound to Queenstown

We started early this morning. Alarm was set before 6am. 

We were off to the Milford Sound. We made a couple of photo stops on our way there. Dale is in the red jacket.

I popped out without my coat for a couple of shots, but Babs stayed on board

We got a great view of  the mountains around. They were very rugged.

And the glacier tips were easy to see

We were told that there are over 300 active glaciers in New Zealand

All the valleys up around this area were glacier carved

A lot of water to be seen on this drive

We stopped at this lake

It truly was very reflective 

So you can see where it got it’s name

They had a nice boardwalk along the lake for aways

Loved the obstacle of a tree. You had to watch where you were going even on the walkways 

We reached Milford Sound Tour terminal

We had been told to bring stuff to eat as it was a cash only on board

The sides of the lake were very steep

The nature guide on board the tour boat said they were in drought as they had not had rain in four days.  He said they usually got 7-9 meters of rain a year. That’s 275-355 inches of water in a year.

KK spent most of the  hour and one half ride inside the cabin with me.

The Sound did have a group of seals. Living nearer where it opened on the Tasman Sea

The guide also informed us the it we continued straight in four days we would dock in Sydney harbor

Instead we turned around to head back to the terminal 

This was one of the largest  waterfalls we say, it is three times as tall as Niagara Falls

This was another of the waterfalls as we were coming into the terminal 

On our way back I got a shot of this tunnel we had to go through. It is the homer Tunnel and it opened in 1953. Making it possible to get to the sound by auto. The tunnel is 1.2 k which is about three quarters of a mile.

This bird is called a kea. He likes shined things and will come around the buses when they are stopped. We got his picture when we were stopped waiting for our turn to go through the tunnel. The tunnel is only one lane wide.

This was my first view of the lake Queensland sites by

We had a great view of the sunset after glow from our hotel room

We walked the few blocks from our hotel to the main commercial area for dinner. We found a fun Brazilian place that just happened to have a table for two free. We lucked out as we found out that it is hard to get sit down restaurants without a reservation.

This delightful church was on our walk back to our hotel. We got in early enough for me to get some work on the blogs done.