Day 7 (and final day) New Zealand

It was another early start today as we headed for Milford Sound. Most people see the Sound from the deck of a cruise ship but we had the awesome privilege of gliding along in a sea kayak, getting up close and personal with the seals. We saw dolphins but they were headed out to sea and didn’t want us to get too close. I definitely found muscles I haven’t used in awhile and expect that I will be quite sore tomorrow.

Yep, that's me.

The water is so clear you can see the bottom even though it is quite deep.

It's difficult to describe the magnitude of these mountains but there is a huge cruise ship at the base of this one that gives you a bit of an idea. This mountain is the world's 2nd tallest rising from the sea.

The moss on the granite mountains is all that holds the trees on. They root in the moss and have treeslides leaving big sections of granite bare.

There is a seal sunning himself on this rock. He is kind of camoflaged.

This waterfall is the source of all the drinking water in Milford. It comes from a glacier that is 30,000 years old.

The back of my head is in most of these shots. Notice that I am paddling while Kim is taking pics. hmmm.

I am still paddling and Kim is still taking pics. What is wrong with this picture?

I can only say...amazing!

View from the backpacker lodge.

Front of the lodge.

After spending 2 ½ hours paddling around in the fjord, we headed back to the lodge for a lunch of vegetarian chili nachos. Not exactly tex-mex but very good nonetheless. We were then on our way to Manapouri, where we will spend our final night on the South Island of New Zealand. But we can’t leave without one more hike so we stopped to hike a portion (6 miles) of the Keplar Track. The hike is supposed to take between 2 ½ to 3 hours but we finished it in less than 2 hours.

No words.

Checking out the mushrooms growing on this tree.

Close-up of the mushrooms.

You can see why the national symbol for New Zealand is the fern leaf.

The swinging bridge at the end of the hike.

View from the bridge.

Our lodging for the night which looks out on...

...this.

Our final dinner on the Tui was steak, lamb, sausage, & chicken cooked on the barbie. We sat around the table and talked about the highlights of the trip. What a fantastic trip it has been. I can't think of enough superlatives to really describe it but it was far more than I ever expected.