Living with the Kiwis: Campervan Day 9

This morning we decided it was best to get straight on the road out to Milford Sound since there were 15 recommended stops to make along the way, some with walks out into the woods a bit. We stayed into our campsite until just about 10am (checkout time) and then fueled up along with what seemed like the rest of town to head out on Milford Road, since there was no petrol at all along the way or at the end. We definitely got lucky with a nice sunny day to see all the amazing views and the tops of all of the towering peaks. The theme for the day was definitely waterfalls, 1000s of the them, cascading down from 1000s of feet above, partly due to melting snow and partly to heavy rains from the day before. The landscape was like a whole new world again, but still beautiful. I’m sure the pictures won’t do it justice. It’s hard to tell even being right next to the cliffs out on the water, just how massive they are. Seeing other huge boats out on the sound up next to the waterfalls and cliffs did help to put it into perspective. We passed a few seal colonies where the fur seals were lazing around on the rocks. Then a few people got up close and personal with a huge waterfall. We were all warned ahead of time, the doors were going to be locked and it was a choice we had to make whether we wanted to be on the inside or outside...he said that the outside areas would get on the damp side of wet for sure...I think some people wished they had chosen to head inside! Those who had chosen to brave the spray quickly scurried around to the more shielded side of the boat but still ended up soaking! We definitely made the right decision to head inside, except Dad, he stayed out and had a nice little sheltered corner on the driest side of the boat.

I think the drive out there ended up taking us close to 4 hours with all our stops and picture-taking (it’s supposed to be 2 hours without stops). Now we’re headed back to Queenstown to spend the night. So first a 2 hour drive back to Te Anau (since there is only the one road to and from most places down here) and then just over a 2 hour drive up to Queenstown from there. Poor Dad, the driving times seems to increase a lot on this half of the trip...doing a great job though!