One of the main purposes of the trip was to seek out an area of NZ that we had not been to before: Fiordland. It is an area rated by all who go there, and is a World Heritage site, so it must be good.
We stayed in a house in Te Anau that was full of intrigue. It was not haunted, but we were trying to work out who owned it. We found the details on promotional details of a company who were different from the people we were dealing with, they claimed to be the original and current owners, and yet there was a sold sign in the garage and the local estate agent had the house displayed as a recent sale. In the end, even super sleuth Sara could not get to the bottom of the mystery.
Te Anau was lovely to be in. The lake was cold but that did not deter the boys. The bikes were used as were the running shoes. We went to Mass on Christmas Eve evening, and it was like a United Nations meeting, with the locals heavily outnumbered.
The day trip to Milford Sound involved an early start and a two hour drive. The drive was special in itself, so no great chore. It was a dry sunny day, not a common experience. The midges though were common. The trip on the water was good, though it would have been pointless to have taken the longer trip. The trip to Doubtful Sound was an all day affair, initially across Lake Manapouri. The trip involved a tour of the famous hydro-power station. Maybe one for the nerds. I liked it.
The rain arrived, and so we saw the sites in a more typical way. There were plenty of people on the trip who were disappointed with the rain! Did they not know that Fiordland is one of the wettest places on earth. As the boat master said on more than one occasion, it rains 8 out of 10 days there. The moaners were foreigners: English and American.
We stayed for six days, and as we were leaving, the rest of the world poured in. It was a good time to leave and move onto the quieter Catlins.
