FJORDLAND

24TH - 27TH APRIL

The drive out of Queenstown was great - we drove down the valley next to the Remarkables - the views once again were splendid!! We had decided to stay in Te Anau, the gateway to the Fjords, about 150 km away. We found a nice sounding campsite just out of town, and got ourselves a pitch which was fully enclosed by a big hedge, and massive - would have fitted about ten bongos in it!! However, there were some more expensive sites with ace views right down the valley to the nearby lake, and on to the mountains. After some gentle negotiation, the camp site guy agreed to let us have one of them for the same price as the campsite wasn’t busy. It was one of the nicest campsites we’d stayed on actually, all the facilities were really modern, and everything was really well organised - and the highlight was our beautiful vista either from Bongo or the adjoining picnic table! We had a quick look around the town, and a stroll along the lakeside to the DOC visitor centre, where we checked
out the weather forecast. It was looking like the rain was going to start clearing in a couple of days, and then it would be nice for a couple of days, so we crossed our fingers and hoped for the best!! It was about an hour and a half’s drive to Milford Sound, so we figured we’d take it easy and do it over two days, as the drive was supposed to be spectacular, and there were plenty of cheap DOC campsites along the way.

The next morning we needed to check e-mail, so went to the laundrette - might sound mad but it is very common in New Zealand and Australia for laundrettes to have internet! A great idea when you think about it - gives you something to do while you’re waiting for your clothes to dry!! It was Anzac day, similar to remembrance day at home, so there were loads of old soldiers parading in town!! The drive down Milford Road was as promised, although the weather was pretty