Finally a sleep in this morning & less disturbed sleep. We awoke around 7.30 to an overcast day & after showering, re packing etc made our way to breakfast. After all this time away the novelty of a full cooked breakfast has long worn off, so I usually just have a little cereal with stewed fruit, then some fresh fruit & coffee. No toast or the endless supply of pastries. That said, my healthy start does not often interpret to the remainder of the day. Lunch can be difficult due to the type of place we stop & the amount of time we have (often only 40-50 minutes for all 47 of us to eat, drink and use the bathrooms). There is usually no time for them to cook food from scratch so we have to grab something ready made. I usually have fish & salad if available though. Dinners are mostly buffet so always a choice and mostly the quality is good, if not my ideal form of dining.
After breakfast we dropped our hand luggage on the coach and walked into the centre of town (The Octagon) where I uploaded yesterday's blog entry. Then we went for a walk, had a coffee, purchased a few things (sandals for me, polo shirt & hat for Mike) then wandered back to where we were to meet the coach at 11.30am. All aboard & heading towards Te Anau.
Next stop was at Peggydale for lunch and a leg stretch, then off again. It was at this stage that the weather gods, which have shined on us the entire trip, began to let us down. As we neared Te Anau the rain commenced & became heavier as we arrived in town. This is such a beautiful place right on a lake it was a pity there was no sunshine.
First stop was the local cinema, where we watched a film on the Milford Sound. Very beautiful and great filming, all from a helicopter. This ran for 30 minutes & then we were taken to our hotel arriving just after 5.30pm.
This is a lovely hotel & situated right on the lake. The rain has continued since we arrived with lots of thunder & lightening. We were told that it rains here on average 300 days/year & average rainfall was 6 metres! I'm sure some Aussies would love some of that rain right now. We have a drive to Milford Sound, then a cruise planned for tomorrow, however, that is in doubt due to the torrential rain over recent days. The road has been closed because of the dangers of landslides. There is a slight chance it may reopen tomorrow (Thursday), however they have a backup plan fr a lake cruise just in case. We won't be too disappointed if it doesn't happen as we did this cruise on the Diamond Princess 3 weeks ago. For those who have not done it, I hope the sky will turn blue and they will reopen the road.
Well we ave unpacked the essentials, recharged batteries and just getting ready for dinner.
Dinner tonight was al a carte & just beautiful. I had a raw salmon entree & a tender rib eye for main. We had a glass of wine in our room before dinner, then a Speights cider (yes we had to check & make sure it really was that good last night) with our meal. It was a really nice restaurant in the hotel and great to have a break from the buffet.
It's 9.30pm & still daylight ... & still raining so no walk along the lake. The weather forecast for tomorrow is still grim, however the plan is to get up early, have breakfast & be ready to leave Te Anau by 7.45am Thursday & head to Milford Sound. I guess we will be informed in the morning of any changes.
Not a lot of photos today due to the rain ... But will post a few of Dunedin and its beautiful buildings.
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