Drove to Milford Sound on Friday morning…beautiful scenery around Lake Wakatipu not unlike Kamloops BC but with more vegetation…the road from Te Anau to Milford Sound was something else…it was flat for part of the way with trees on each side of the road meeting above so the sky could not be seen…the closer to Milford Sound we came the more straight and stark the mountains became…in Te Anua they get 1400 mm of rain annually…in Milford Sound which is only 110 km away get 8,000 mm of rain annually…it rains 2 out of 3 days…phenomenal drive through Homer Tunnel completed in 1950 and goes straight through the mountain…it is absolutely unbelieveable…once through the tunnel you need good brakes as it is straight down for miles…the shear magnificance of the cliffs is breathtaking…there is no picture or description that can capture the spectacularness of the creation around you…when we finally made it to the bottom with our brakes burning and stinking to high heaven…we were ready for our 2 1/2 hour excursion through the Milford Sound to the Tasman Sea. Mitre Peak rises out of the sound to a height of 6,000 feet on the opposite side there was a shear cliff of 2,000 feet with a water fall coming over which turned to mist as it never hit the side of the cliff until it hit the water…it is hard to describe what we experienced…the boat went right under a waterfall and Gloria made sure she was at the front of the boat experiencing the water coming down…amazing…I needed a shower…going out in the Tasman Sea was amazing…Gloria was glad she took her gravol as the boat rolled over the waves…we all stayed outside the whole trip even though it was cold and cloudly…it was the first time this boat had been able to go out into the sea for 2 weeks as the weather had been quite severe…the trip back up to Te Anau meant we had to climb up the long stretch we had come down on…the car worked hard…so breathtaking and steep you didn’t want to look over the edge…New Zealand does not protect the side of the road with guardrails it is all open…another great day…Gloria fighting a sore throat and a cold…otherwise doing well…not that sick that I can’t eat lots of pastry and ice cream…the ice cream in honour of Don Pogoda!!!