Nous partons deux jours vers le sud, découvrir Fiordland, la région de Te Anau, qui porte bien son nom. Des lacs, des forêts, des fiords, et aussi des sand flies...qui piquent autant que des moustiques.

Après une ballade de 4 heures au son des "bell birds"

....

nous découvrons le lac Manapouri, splendide et apaisant bout du monde.

Nous poursuivons ensuite vers un petit lodge à côté du Milford Sound.

Vue imprenable sur le mur de montagne et ses mille cascades.

 Et le lendemain, magnifique croisière dans le Milford Sound, fiord dont les flancs culminent à 1500 mètres.

 C'est grandiose !

 Cela nous laisse rêveurs....

tout comme les otaries qui se prélassent le long des falaises (ci-dessous à droite!)

From Queenstown, we headed West to Milford Sound, probably New Zealand's favorite tourism destination, and for a good reason. We stopped by in Lake Te Anau for a forest walk that opened up on yet another lake, serene, in all shades of grey, with every size of... sand fly and most of all, every sound of "bell birds" (which sound as pure as bells indeed - listen to the end of the Youtube video above and imagine dozens more).

We were then lucky enough to wake up in Milford sound on a sunny day (there are just 100 of them every year), and embarked on a small cruise towards the Tasman Sea, between seals, cascades and mountain shooting up 4500 feet above water: a little bit of Norway on the opposite end of the planet, with NZ cool and empty roads. We then returned to Queenstown and Arrowtown for another few days of beauty, sunshine, intense work for the kids, and absolute comfort at Olivier and Marie-Claude's place, which we will never be grateful enough for.

                                                Fab et François