Fiordland to The East Coast

Our last day in Te Anau was again a clear one, but also chilly. We decided to spend the day driving along the road to Milford Sound again, this time stopping off to explore the many interesting stops along the way.
Unfortunately a lot of the snow on the mountaintops had gone, so when we reached Mirror Lakes, while the scenery was stunning it was not as magnificent as it was 2 days before. From there we headed on finding Lakes and creeks, the names of which I can't remember, but there were all stunning nevertheless. Just about any interesting side track was explored, as anyone who has travelled with John before will know. As we got closer the Milford Sound the weather started to change and it was becoming foggy and slightly damp, so we turned back after Falls Creek and headed off to Te Anau for the afternoon. It was fine there, and it was nice to relax in the late afternoon sun and spend some time sorting through photos, washing and other domestic chores.
Reluctantly we left on Monday morning and headed off towards Dunedin. The day was clear, but cool and very windy from the west. We followed some magnificent mountains and through lovely sheep and cattle farming grounds and into Clutha country, named after the mighty Clutha river. We laughed as we drove through the neighbouring towns of Gore and Clinton, where they had named the highway "The Presidential Way". We reached Dunedin by about lunchtime and decided to take our lunch with us and eat it in the grounds of Lanarch castle. This castle/mansion was built by an Australian banker, William Lanarch, in 1870, on the highest point of the Otago Peninsula for his wife (he married 3 times). Unfortunately Lanarch committed suicide and his family sold the house and its beautiful grounds. In 1967 it was rescued and restored. The grounds were not as magnificent as those we have seen of other castles in Europe but the view over the peninsula was lovely.
Then we had a scenic drive around Dunedin, taking in the sights of the historic old Railway station and the interesting city layout called the Octogon.
That night for dinner we met up with our new friends Darrell and Karen Love, who we met on the Abel Tasman trip. They took us to a great restaurant with a magnificent view over the city and we enjoyed a great night reminiscing and sharing photos and stories.