Southland

I left Wanaka and headed off to Queenstown a few days ago and stayed with one of the friends I've made over the course of my travels down here. It was nice to have a brief reprieve from the backpackers. It was a low-key visit, which was fine by me. Considering where I was (party-central NZ), I could have done it up right, but I was too tired and then today my departure time was 6:15 AM. Eek!

QT is really pretty. There is a really huge lake there. Autumn is upon us down here. I think it comes earlier in the South Island. I'm finding myself in the middle of a cold snap right now. The first night in QT it snowed in the mountains - the first snow of the season. It was really beautiful to wake up to. It doesn't snow much in the city, so I'm told. We took the gondola up for a view of the city and did the luge track while we were up there. It was really windy and cold though, so we didn't stay up there very long.

This morning, bright and early, I left QT for Fiordland. Today I'm settled into Te Anau. It is a wonderfully quaint little town. Another lake. There are many, many lakes down here. It's been raining all day, but off and on, with lots of sunny breaks and many, many rainbows! The rain is heavy though. I hope that tomorrow isn't too bad, as I'm supposed to be doing some tramping and they say that there will be snow in the mountains here tonight as well and cold weather tomorrow. Some facts about fiords and sounds for you...

A sound is a large sea or ocean inlet, larger than a bay or a channel. A fiord is a long, narrow, deep inlet of the sea with steep sides that have been carved out by glaciers in years past. Milford Sound is a fiord (fjord). It's confusing isn't it?? ;) Seems the term 'Sound' is often misused. At any rate, Milford Sound and Doubtful Sound are two of the nearby sounds that are part of Fiordland National Park. Where I am today as I write.