Before we went to bed last night my brother and I walked down to the lake to get some stargazing in. There is almost no light pollution where we are staying and as the sun set thousands of stars - like small pinpricks in the sky - filled our vision. Some of the constellations are different in the Southern Hemisphere and it is always amazing to just sit and look at celestial objects impossibly far away, watching as meteors streak through the sky, or satellites pass overhead and imagine the impossible. We went down at 10:30 forgetting it’s summer and we are pretty far south. The sun was still setting well after 11. 

We got up early for the long drive down to Milford Sound. It’s a little over three hours each way. Of course there is so much to see that we knew there would be many stops along the way. Each day this country finds new ways to surprise and inspire me with its beauty. The Eglinton Valley was the first of many breathtaking landscapes along the road. It is a huge valleys stretching on for miles at the based of majestic mountains. The ground is a golden color due to the brush covering the ground. The breeze flows through the valley causing the vegetation to turn into a sea. Driving on we began to enter the mountain ranges. These are almost impossible for me to describe. There was one stop we made where a small stream cut through the valley as mountains imperiously rose some covered with green and others capped with snow. The cool, fresh air made it an experience that touched all the senses. At one point along the drive we crossed the 45th south parallel which is basically the halfway point between the equator and the South Pole. Not much except for a small sign along the road marks this point. We passed huge cliffs off in the distance with many waterfalls, large and small, cascading down the slopes. Passing through a large tunnel in the mountain we came out high above the valley below and various mountains rising around us. 

I will say that as much as we enjoyed the beauty around us, at times we would get stuck behind people driving about half the speed limit in their campers or RVs. The roads were pretty steep so I understand why. Yet there are also plenty of turn off points that were too often ignored. Fortunately I never get frustrated with other drivers and find joy in the journey instead. We had to park fairly far away from the harbor as there were quite a few people there today and not a lot of close parking. This did give us a chance to walk around and get more amazing views of the fiord. The boat was fairly full, but not many chose to get on the top deck, and even fewer stayed throughout the ride. It was quite windy out on the water and at points the sun would wander behind clouds making it fairly cold. Getting out on the water though presented us with even more spectacular views. I have never seen such tall mountains or cliffs that go right to the water. This went on for miles as we made our way out to the Tasman Sea. I can’t say enough how amazing it was and that any who can should make their way to Milford Sound. 

We stopped at some falls we had seen on the way in and decided to hike out to them. It looked much closer and easier from the parking lot than it ended up being. There wasn’t much of a path. Instead there were various sized rocks that we had to walk across. Some were as big as houses while others were small pebbles that slid under you on the hills. Crossing a stream we made our way up and were rewarded with a view that made up for the hard work and at times dangerous jumps from rock to rock. We finished up the day in Te Anau at a country burger joint. They definitely make good burgers here. That tends to be my go to when out and they have yet to disappoint. All in all this was one of the best days of the trip