TE ANAU, NEW ZEALAND

Today we left Queenstown and drove across the Southern Alps to Milford Sound, in Fiordland National Park. The "sound" is misnamed, as it's really a fjord, with dramatic steep cliffs and hundreds of waterfalls pouring down its sides. We took a tour boat through the fjord to the sea, stopping along the way for close-up views of waterfalls and seals. We were fortunate to have mostly sunny weather today, as this area is notoriously wet and rainy (that was the case the last time I was here).

On the road through Fiordland National Park, we also stopped to see some other sights, including the Mirror Lakes (they reflect, see?), and The Chasm, a deep rock gorge cut by a roaring waterfall.

At the car park for The Chasm, we were fortunate enough to see a kea, one of New Zealand's native birds. They're a type of big green parrot that only lives in mountainous, snowy areas. (How weird is that?) They're extremely curious, and have a fondness for bright, shiny objects. They're also quite insane. This one was walking around the parking lot, alternating between carrying around a red bottle cap and picking up large rocks with its beak and throwing them around randomly. After visiting the Chasm, we returned to the parking lot to find the same kea perched on our car, tearing chunks out of the rubber around the windows. When we scared him off, he flew to the RV parked beside us and started removing parts of it. It was quite amusing.