This was going to be a long day - the plan was to travel down to Milford Sound to take a boat trip through the fijords. The weather forecast wasn't good and the road is tricky and often closed due to avalanches or landslides. It was hard to find out whether the road was going to stay open all day or not but we set off anyway with the view to check the status at the half way point in Te Anau.
The weather for the first part of the drive wasn't too bad although very windy (forecast had been for winds 100+ kph) which we discovered for real when the ski rack blew off the top of the car! Luckily there wasn't any one behind the car (again, the roads are empty) but the rack was broken and a nice dent left in the boot lid.
By the time we got to Te Anau the weather was definitely closing in and we decided to pick up an organized coach & boat ride from there as the drivers would know the road and conditions better. This was definitely a good move - the coach was excellent with good commentary from the driver, stops to enjoy the views and a safe journey. The clouds and rain were everywhere but they seemed to make the landscape even more dramatic. No one had ever seen as many waterfalls as on this journey.
The boat trip was almost as dramatic. The mountains of the fijords are staggering and look like they're straight out of Lord of the Rings. The 100 kph winds were combined with the speed of the boat and it was almost impossible to walk around outside - which made it even more fun! The wind was so hard that the waterfalls were actually "falling" vertically upwards!
We were very grateful to catch the bus back to Te Anau to get some zzz's in before picking up the car and heading back to Queenstown. Although the weather had been bad for us, it got a lot worse the next day and the roads did close so were lucky to have made the trip.
Helen says-
today we headed dwn 2 milford sound to catch a boat ride but one of the roads dwn there gets closed sometimes cos tehy get avalanches tehre so we thort it wud be betta to catch a bus from a place called te anau and let them do all the hard work.
wel we managed to get there and bk fine and the boatride was fun mum dad and andrew went all on top wen a waterfall came and got soaked but i didnt feel up to it because i think that the first busy week or sp is catchng up to me
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