The road to Milford Sound

Back at the library in Te Anau. The drive to Milford sound was absolutely astounding. Hands down the most beautiful and amazing drive I've ever been on. Huge rocky mountains left me feeling so small.
Lots of short hikes and beautiful walks to waterfalls and lakes on the way. The road was steep and winding and a 1.2 km crude tunnel (felt like it had been carved out of the mountain with a teaspoon) was cut thru the sheer cliff face towards the end:

The sound itself was really beautiful. Apparently a heavy rain leads to tons of waterfalls on all the surrounding hills.

Day hike yesterday to Key Summit. It starts on the other end of the Routeburn track (I day hiked the other end a few days back...) unfortunately the best parts are in the middle from what I understand. I really wish I was doing more of the great walks. They'd require the purchase of rain gear and a good sleeping bag and a bit of planning. This time of year is risky weather wise and I'm just not quite up to it atm but I think I'll always feel a regret about not getting them done. Might have to come back to New Zealand for the express purpose of doing as many of them as possible.
Key Summit was amazing. A view in any one direction was worth the (difficult) hike and it was beautiful 360 degrees.

Rain in the forecast for today - a good day to spend driving. Making my way to Invercargill next but would like to day hike the Kepler track on the way so it may take a few days to get there.