The rain which had been holding off for the last two days started during the night. It rained heavily and steadily for most of our four and a half hour journey to Twizel where we decided to book into a motel for the night before embarking on a further 2 hour round trip to Mount Cook. In Twizel, a cute little town, the sun was shining again and it was hot. But unfortunately by the time we arrived at Mount Cook it was completely shrouded in cloud and we could not see it at all although we were just at the foot of it (and with three glaciers around it which should also have been in view). It was very disappointing but it decided us to go into the Sir Edmund Hillary Alpine Centre which only opened in December last year. We saw the most fantastic 3D show about mountaineering, skiing and flying in the mountains - quite an incredible piece of work. Then we spent quite a while looking around the museum. We would have liked to wait for the planetarium show but we were tired after the journeying so went back to Twizel then. We were even sorrier when, on one of our only really clear nights, we saw the splendour of the stars in that part. (There is an observatory complex near Lake Tepako because of the purity of the atmosphere there which makes the night sky so incredible.)
Monday 10 March
We had booked to go to Doubtful Sound today and, again, we expected to be going in torrential rain as that is more the norm for Fiordland, but we had a beautiful sunny day, though it was cold (there was frost in the morning!). It was a very long day - a coach trip to M.JPG "Doubtful Sound")
anapouri; boat to Wilmot Pass; coach journey across the Pass to the Fiord. Then we had a three hour trip on the water and enjoyed the company of a couple from Wyoming!
The Fiord is much longer than Milford Sound and with branches off it but did not have the same grandeur. However, we saw bottlenose dolphins and (briefly) blue penguins. .JPG "Richard in Doubtful Sound")
On the return journey we visited the turbine hall of the hydro-electric power station at Manapouri. In the evening we enjoyed pasta supper in Te Anau.
here - real boutique-type accommodation. Then we drove up to Milford Sound; the journey there is full of little side 'trips' including mirror lakes with fantastic reflections of the mountains and The Chasm where the water roars through and has created wonderful shapes in the rocks. We had brilliant sunshine - and it was hot. It must be quite frightening when there has been the usual torrential rain and it is forcing its way through the Chasm. We arrived in Milford Sound at around 3 pm and were lucky enough to get straight onto a boat which only had a few other passengers.
