Te Anau and Milford Sound, New Zealand

Te Anau is a small village on a big lake on the edge of Fiordland. Our first day there, we checked out a small bird conservation area, where we saw some kea (an alpine parrot),


and an Antipodes Island parakeet.


In the late afternoon, we took a boat across Lake Te Anau


to visit a cave with glowworms. Cameras weren't allowed, so I don't have any pictures. It was pretty amazing, though, like a planetarium in a cave!

The next day, we drove to Milford Sound. Unfortunately, it was cloudy and rainy. Fortunately, although we missed out on some great views, we did see hundreds, if not thousands, of waterfalls.


In the sound (which is actually a fjord), we saw a family of dusky dolphins feeding.


I think this was Mitre Peak, which is the most famous mountain in the area.


Here is a sunnier picture of it.

We also saw New Zealand fur seals on some rocks.


We finished the tour around the sound (fjord) passing Lady Bowen falls.


(Compare my picture with Wikipedia's to see what a difference the rain made!)

It finally stopped raining once we got back to Te Anau, where we had a nice sunset.