There'd been snow again overnight which meant the scenery on the 2 hour drive north was ridiculously impressive - a crisp coating of white stuff covering everything.
The big bonus when we reached the dock at Milford Sound was discovering that only a handful of folk had bothered getting out of their pits as early as we had, so there were more ducks than people milling about.
The cruise itself surpassed all expectations. Sorry to use the 'a' word, but it was truly awesome.
Sheer cliff walls tower thousands of feet on both sides of the gorge, making even the biggest boats seem very small and insignificant. Despite the steep incline, trees and shrubs somehow manage to find a toe-hold, so in effect, we were surrounded by vertical rainforest on both sides.
The scale of the place is quite baffling. Our captain gave a little commentary, explaining that in places the cliffs sink as far beneath the surface as they rise above it, which accounts for the water being such an eerie, inky black. On the off chance Nessie has any distant cousins living on this side of the planet, we think we know where they'll be hanging out.
Stayed in the National Park in the afternoon to go hiking and ended up tackling Key Summit. At first this 6000 footer looked quite a daunting challenge, but a well maintained path to the top ensured it was a relative stroll, especially for extreme athletes like me and the Wend.
Enough snow at the peak to build a snowman, but couldn't find a carrot for his nose. Improvised with a Salt n Vinegar crisp.
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