like the weather

It's been rain, rain, raining in the southland today. Our glowworms got rained out again (poor flooded larvae!) and we had wet all the way to and from Milford.

Milford Sound, though, gets 200 days of rain a year, and 8m of rainfall on average, so seeing it like it was today was pretty representative of what it actually looks like. It was rainy, sure, but still gorgeous:
The other thing - there has been rain pretty much nonstop, and they said about 44cm in the last 10 days (134mm in the last 24 hours!) so everything is saturated. Around here, that means that the mountains are literally awash in waterfalls. The road from Te Anau to Milford is about 120 km and takes 2 hours. We left early this morning, to catch our cruise in the Sound and to miss the parade of buses on the road and the masses of tourists on the water. But the road itself is full of attractions. On the way there, we didn't stop, but we still got to enjoy the scary tunnel that is in the most avalanche-prone area (average of one a day in winter), took 20 years to build because of the rock slides and water that flowed through) and until about a year ago, had no lights whatsoever inside. Yeah, that was fun; but when we emerged, it was to these sheer cliffs with just waterfalls as far as the eye can see:
The Sound is stunning - totally worth a trip, even if its raining so hard it goes sideways. We saw fur seals lazing about, sailed all the way to the Tasman Sea, and marveled at the sheer cliffs of insanity. On the way back, we stopped to see The Chasm, which is a full, rough, rushing river (and in this weather, where the tiny creeks have become raging rivers, this one was still the most impressive) that has carved its way into rocks something fierce. It was worth getting absolutely soaked as the rain picked up while we watched.

I love New Zealand, but am totally ready to leave Te Anau. We are heading for the coast, for Dunedin, tomorrow, and I hope it is drier. I also hope they have reasonably-priced clothing - I ripped my jeans in Queenstown, and am finding that everyone who wears jeans in New Zealand must be a zillionaire, because I can't find a replacement pair for under $70.

Oh, and I didn't drive today, but I definitely will tomorrow. I will take photos to prove it.