Dunedin and Fiordland

It is pissing down !! It does not matter where you are in the world - rain is wet, and miserable.....

We drove our camper into Dunedin and parked at the beautiful railway station, which looks like a castle from Scotland. The sign outside was a gentle reminder of how frigging far away from home we are...I really don't like the time difference, gives me the hebe jebies !!! we are walking around and you lazy lot are sleeping .. get up !!!
We walked around the town. popping into the art galley and into the lovely cathedral which had beautiful stained glass windows and some relics from Canterbury Cathedral, and lit a candle for dad and nan and all the people who know I love them at home.. it was really raining so lunch in a pub called 'the craic' and back to the camper...

Check that gorgeous bird out !!

The next morning we sheepishly lifted the blinds to guess what !!!!! yep more rain !!! we were going to the Albatross centre which I was so looking forward to .... but with such an awful day, it was a long drive in the wrong direction.... once we had got ready, I suggested we still go for it.. we both decided at the beginning of our great adventure, nothing will stop us doing what we wanted to do ... we did not want to get home and say " I wish we had " !! never regret what you do, only what you don't do !!!!  I am so pleased we went, It was a stunning drive out along the peninsula, sea on one side and natural harbour on the other, we saw seals and penguins on the drive out .. The Albatross Centre, is the only centre in the world where Albatross breed on the mainland, this magnificent bird has a wing span of 3 metres , they travel a whopping 190,000km a year at up to 120kmh !!! they an live up to 45 years old and mate for life !!!! Once they have mated they, feed and look after their one egg for almost a year, then fly in opposite directions for a year before returning within days of each other to start all over again !!! amazing !!
Due to the wind and rain no birds had taken flight that day !! typical , but the centre was really interesting and we saw nesting pairs on their nests and loads of shags and seals ... but no Albatross in flight ... NUTS ... and if I hear Brian say "Albatross" in Python style one more time... what is it with Python fans that they have to repeat verbatim lines from seemingly unfunny sketches !! guess I am just too young to appreciate ...

Mum in van with us , live on Skype !

We headed across country in lovely lovely scenery to reach a town called Gore .. just to rest up for the night .. there is absolutely nothing to write about Gore ..... oh it is apparently the brown trout capital of the world .... The sun did come out and we went for a nice walk, before coming home and skype mum.. she joined us in the van caught live on timed camera !! see how bored we were!!

View from our Camper

We woke the next morning to a beautiful day, blue skies, but windy... we were heading for fiordland, destination Te Anau , it was soooo windy on the drive here, we were being buffeted around , as we drove through mountains and sheep .. it is difficult to describe the scenery as its so stunning, rivers, grassy hills, loamy cliffs, granite slopes, crystal clear rivers.  We eventually made it to Te Anau, a lakeside town, the lake is 38 miles long !!! so just a puddle really, surrounded by snow capped mountains and grassy banks , wonderful... an Irish girl was working on reception at this site and gave Brian the best pitch on the site ... Those Mick's look after each other ...

A lot of that in the camper !!

We walked into town and booked a cruise for the next day then went to Fiordland cinema, a must if you are in Te Anau, they show an half hour film on the hour every hour every day of the year... This film is a film about scenery of Fiordland , taken from a helicopter and with no ponderous voice over just amazing music ... It was utterly spectacular,  it brought tears to my eyes.. it showed amazing views going up and over cloud, cathedral like forests cloaked in mosses and litchen, granite mountains, blankets of clouds hanging over snowy capped peaks, all in an small intimate cinema with local wine being sipped ... Boy were we looking forward to our trip to Milford Sound the next day .. It was a lovely sunset as we walked home .
We woke to very very low cloud and heavy heavy rain... terrific... this trip cost £80 each !!! we were going for Doubtful sound but they wanted £150 each !!! crazy money ..
So off we went at 7am ... the coach was fab, tiered seats, turned towards the windows, with a glass roof, which gave that extra view of grey cloud and rain !!

Brian with the "whole plane in his hand , he's got the whole plane in his hand ... "

as it was raining so hard, it created the most fantastic waterfalls down sheer vertical granite rock , every where you looked there was mountain and waterfalls, there is no topsoil here, so every drop of water is crystal clear , it all feels so healthy and clean after the humidity and smog of Asia.. it bloody cold and wet though, makes you feel pretty miserable, our driver was keen to point out.. there is never a bad day in New Zealand, just the wrong clothes .. i fancied pointing that out to him as he waited soaking wet and shivering as we got out of the bus for the 20 time to take another photo .. right clothes , wrong latitude my friend !!!!!

Milford sound

It was such a pity, my sister Kate was here 15 years ago, and I have the most wonderful photo of the mountain in the sun reflected perfectly in the sound water !! oh well, back to the bus..

Lichen forest

We arrived at Milford sound with the group of 6 Asian women throwing up in their bags !! they really don't travel well god love them .. and waited for our boat, having all been shepherded out for a fire alarm.. the only thing burning in this torrential rain was someone's toast !!! we headed off into the mist on this huge boat !! it was awful outside, wind and rain soaking you, however inside all windows were so steamed up and covered in rain drops you could not see a thing, after an hour we got to the Tasmanian Sea and were bounced around there for 30 minutes , I felt so sea sick, as did most people on the boat.. I lay down praying we could get back onto Terra fir ma  ... I was very disappointed , I was so looking forward to this trip... 

We swaggered onto the coach still trying to find our seas legs, and continued for another 2 hours down the mountain, taking in lots more photo stops , .. I could not wait to get back to the warm comfort of our van .  We were so cold and wet.. when we got back and stripped off, guess what ...... the sun came out and we had the most amazing evening bathed in sunlight with the snow capped mountains protecting the crystal clear lake that we were privileged to be sipping fine Pinot Gris next to ..... bliss... this is one fine country .........