Te Anau, Doubtful Sound - a beautiful part of the world.

We arrived in Te Anau (in the very SW of the south island) on Monday February 29th. We have now had 2 nights at Tussock Inn with Pam, Ken and Bonnie the black labrador. The place is a quiet spot on a deer farm 6 kilometres out of Te Anau. We wake up each morning to see the deer about fifty feet away. It feels peaceful and remote - just lovely.

This area is the rain capital of NZ with 200 days of rain per year and on day one we had a trip to Doubtful Sound booked months ago. Would the weather be OK??? It turned out we woke to frost but clear skies and the day proved to be stunning. We travelled by bus to Manapouri Lake and then took a forty minute boat ride across the lake to West Arm, which in itself was fantastic. From there we went by bus over Wilmot Pass. The road (which is unsealed) took 2 years to build in the 1960s at a cost of $5 an inch, making it the most expensive road in NZ. It was built for the hydro electric power station and isn't linked to any other road. Using only the power of water the power station is able to produce enough clean electricity to power the entire south island. It sits 176 meters below the level of the lake with up to 510 cubic meters of water per second surging through the pipes.

Wilmot Pass took us to Doubtful Sound and to a boat called the Patea Explorer. The Fiords or Sounds were created by glaciers thousands of years ago and Doubtful is over 430 meters at its deepest. Words simply can't explain its wonder or the impact, as you see it for the first time. There is nothing ordinary about this place. The sides of the gorge are covered by dense rainforest and penguins, dolphins and albatross make their home in the environment. Mountains surround you and for once the word "awesome' seems totally adequate.

This day in Doubtful Sound will go down as one of THE most fabulous and memorable days anywhere in the world. We feel very privileged, indeed, to have seen it.

Our final fill day in Te Anau was spent walking part of the lakeside. Being the second largest lake in NZ, we only touched a small part of it but our 11 mile walk did include part of the Kepler Track, a 41 mile round trip that many folk do over 3-4 days, staying in mountain huts and hostels en route. Once again we were blessed with beautiful weather, on opportunity to see the native, endangered Takahe bird and ending with a well earned soak in the hot tub, a glass of wine and a play with the vicious guard dog at our Airbnb cottage!

Tomorrow we drive 180 miles to the Otago Peninsula, close to the student town of Dunedin. We have an Airbnb place overlooking the harbour and we're hoping to see penguins, albatross and visit the Speight brewery! Watch this space to see what we achieve!