New Zealand Days 6&7 - Te Anau

Our next destination after Wanaka was Te Anau. It was about a three hour drive, but we made a day of it.

We stopped when we wanted to stop... just to stretch our legs and enjoy the sunshine.

You have to take some time to appreciate the views, you know.

We also went through the Central Otago wine region, known for it's pinot noir.

Naturally, we had to stop and do some tastings. 

Appetizers at Carrick Winery.

Do all wineries have a box of toys and a blanket that they will set out near your table so your child can play while you drink wine and eat mussels and lamb? No? Well, they should. Because Katelyn loved it.

She also liked the garlic bread. Or at least she liked smearing it around the high chair and on her face.

We spent the night in Te Anau, and woke up early the next morning to drive to Milford Sound. It's about an hour and a half drive, but everybody says to allow much more time than that, just to enjoy the views. It's pretty spectacular.

One of many viewpoints.

Chris spent most of the drive craning his neck to try to see the tops of the mountains.  

The road is pretty decent. Except when it's covered with avalanche debris.

The one-lane Homer Tunnel makes the drive to Milford Sound possible. There's some pretty cool history behind the tunnel if you're interested in Googling it. This was us waiting to proceed through the tunnel.

On the other side of the tunnel, the views get even more spectacular.

The famous Milford Sound on a rare sunny day.

Ready for our Milford Sound Cruise!

Scarfing down a quick lunch so we could get up to the top deck for all the awesome views.

We spotted some seals or sea lions. I'm not sure which. But the boat captain sure did get us in there for a close picture! 

Penguins! I'm pretty sure this is the only time I'll see penguins in the wild.

The cruise took us out to the Tasman Sea and back. This is looking in at the Milford Sound from the ocean side.

At the end of the cruise we took a short detour to an underwater observatory.

We even saw some super rare black coral. Yes, I know. It's white. But it's called black coral because I guess it turns black when it dies.

We finished off a great day with a stroll along Lake Te Anau and a picnic of local wine and cheese. I really wish it didn't cost so much to ship NZ wine to Japan, because Mt. Difficulty Pinot Gris is AMAZING!