blurpenguin

The day began deary... overcast clouds with no blue sky in sight...

Our first leg drive to Te Anau from Queenstown was shrouded and skyless... with nary a decent view... thankfully the clouds did break as we approached Te Anau...

only for a while...

whilst stopping at a rest area for a quick packed lunch, a slight drizzle was soon upon us... continuing with us almost all the way to Homer Tunnel, a 1.2km tunnel before the downward last leg to the harbour in Milford Sound.

So far the views were disheartening, while u could see the impressive mountain bases and the immense scale of the surroundings... thick fog and cloud covered most of the view above a certain level... and grey skies didn't help in keeping the atmosphere cold and harsh.

At the peak of the tunnel we had a short stop due to one way traffic in the tunnel, we caught sight of wild kea parrots too.. about 6 of them coming down to cars looking for scraps... outside u could see some snow, dirtied by dirt... but u can imagine the temps... sticking my hand out to get some video, u could feel the freezing air...

Total time of drive from Queenstown was 4hrs...

I was contemplating not taking the boat cruise since the weather wasn't really good... questioning what could we see??? BUT thankfully some stubborn family members pushed on... and we went on the 2.00pm cruise out..



By God's Grace, the rain stopped... and some of the clouds lifted... and certain portions of blue sky peeked at us... and

WHOA! Gods amazing handiwork in all its splendor was shown to us...



I've never seen a fiord before... and it was nothing like i imagined...

Here, you will see countless waterfalls... plus the Boat captain said due to earlier rains in the morning we were seeing extra waterfalls from the excess water buildup... and truly the whole mountain was filled with waterfalls... in all sizes...


bear in mind the size comparisons of the 2-storey cantamaran viewing boat and the waterfall... u can calculate the immensity of the fiords...


waterfalls... waterfalls... and more waterfalls...







there were also seals basking on the rocks... :p... the boat came almost beside them!



there was also this cascading waterfall where the boat went very near to its base... and we got really wet! we stayed out... to feel the experience!



we saw penguins too...


and some dolphins...


It wasn't my ideal weather for photo taking, but HEY! God worked and He gave us a cruise worthy of His creation! Milford Sound was definitely one of the key highlights of our NZ trip!