Tuesday 16th March

We awoke to a very windy day. We had hoped to have a ride on a steam train, but when we got to the station at Kingston we found that the company had gone into liquidation; we filled up with fuel there at the only garage and were advised that it was closing at the end of the month- which would mean the nearest fuel stop would be 40kms! We diverted for our picnic lunch down a 30kms track to the Mavora Lakes; these were used in the Lord of the Rings film, however, it was ‘payback’ time as it started to pour with rain (see photo) – our first real rain since we arrived. Liz was also amazed (as an ex-reception class teacher) to see a reversed rainbow (colours showing in reverse order), but unfortunately the photographer couldn’t stop because there was a lorry close on his tail! After lunch the weather cleared and was sunny with a cool breeze for the rest of the day. We continued our drive to Te Anau, which is on the edge of one of New Zealand’s biggest lakes. We also went to the adjacent Manapouri Lake where the other photos were taken.
Tomorrow we are going on a coach/boat trip to Milford Sound, and are hoping the wind drops a bit!