We were awake at 06.30, slept quite soundly, didn't notice any engine noise overnight nor any boat movement although we had been moored in Harrison Cove which is particularly well sheltered. Breakfast was good, in fact better than some we have had here, thinking of the QT Hotel as a particular low point of breakfast quality. After breakfast was complete at 07.30 sharp the anchor was raised and we started to steam out to the Tasman Sea, here it was noticeably rougher. Our room was on the water line with a small porthole at head height, I popped down to pack what we had brought and the porthole was completely under water whilst we sailed, no wonder you can't open it.

Overnight there had been over an inch of rain, the record for a single day here is nearly 2 feet of rain! The rain had largely stopped, there was a faint drizzle but it was quite cloudy, so although visibility wasn't great the whole effect was quite atmospheric especially with the cascading waterfalls, some 200 or 300 metres high .

After a brief stay in the Tasman Sea it was a back into the sound or fjord and then a slow steam back to harbour with the captain taking the boat right up to some of the waterfalls with the prow touching the cliff face. Captain Cook had sailed right past Milford Sound as he thought it was shallow water, it reality its at least 200 metres deep in most of the sound with some parts over 300 metres. It was left to a Welshman from Newport called John Grono to discover the sound and explore it fully, he named it after Milford Haven, this of course ignores the Maori who discovered it hundreds of years earlier.

The scenery is amazing even in the rain and cloud, the steep cliff side soar over 1000 metres and they are covered in vegetation. Milford is in the Fjordland National Park which is 12500 square kilometres and has a population of less than 200.

We got back to port about 09 .30, the fur seal was still on the step, it was straight onto the bus and then a drive back to Te Anau, we stopped a couple of times for a stretch of the legs. One of the stops was at Knobs Flat, we had stopped here on the way up as well, it had toilet facilities that the tour companies have subsidised as its roughly half way,w always on the lookout for an amusing named place. The driver, who incidentally sounded just like Reverend Lovejoy on the Simpsons dropped us off a short distance from our B&B, it was quicker to walk from there than be taken back into town and then ferried back by mini bus or taxi. We were underway by 12.00 re-tracing our steps back to Queenstown via Mossburn, we stopped for lunch at the Five Rivers Cafe. Fiona drove from there, we turned off before Cromwell onto the Crown Range Road which offer a shorter and more scenic drive to Wanaka, it's only open during the summer and autumn months and says its unsuitable for towing vehicles. The first few kilometres were a steep climb up the mountainside, traffic was the fairly light but Fiona did have to stop before one hairpin bend to allow a double bogey petrol tanker to negotiate the bend downhill . Once at the top it was flat but with a lot of bends before we descended the other side of the mountain although this was a much more gentle than the ascent had been. We got into Wanaka about 15.45 so it hadn't been a long journey compared to some of the others. The B&B is very nice, purpose built about 15 years ago, we have the use of a washing machine again which is very useful.

We had a cup of tea sitting on the deck in the warm sunshine, the weather had improved considerably since the early morning, hopefully it will stay like this for the next few days. As we had had a decent lunch we decided on a light dinner, we started off with some drinks then headed out to town which is only a few minutes walk away.

Wanaka itself is quiet small but has a lot of summer visitors although it is now getting to the end of the season so it has quietened down a lot, there are a good number of eating places. The small town is set on the lakeside with the mountains in the background, lovely setting.

We had another drink and shared an antipasto platter which was enough for us, we have booked into a restaurant for tomorrow night where the signature dish is a slow cooked shoulder of lamb.