Fjordtastic

On Wednesday morning we headed to the west coast to visit Fjordlands National Park. It's only about a four-hour drive to get to Te Anau, and then from there it is about an hour and a half to Milford Sound itself. Here are a few photos for you to marvel at. Perhaps now you will come and visit us! We promise to take you to the Fjordlands if you'll come!

This is Lake Te Anau, which is quite large and beautiful. Maybe next time we go we'll get to kayak on it!

Here I am in a glacial valley on the way to Milford Sound.

Here's a photo of Mirror Lakes. Pretty awesome, isn't it?

This is Eric with a Kea, the only parrot to live in an alpine climate. An entire blog post will be devoted to this bird at a later date.

The sites on the way into the Sound are just phenomenal. Definitely the prettiest place I've ever been. It put the Tetons to shame.

And here's Milford Sound. We were there in late afternoon, so our photos aren't stellar, but this one is pretty good. The mountains rise straight out of the water. The tallest is Mitre Peak. (Mitre rhymes with "biter" not "beater"). It is 5560 feet tall.

We took a two-hour "cruise" around the Sound, and it was worth every penny. The fjord is absolutely gorgeous and completely stunning.