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Published: March 14th 2007
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Ok, only a short time since we last blogged, but we are taking photos at a phenomenal rate, so we thought that we had better keep on top of them - and that it is hailing - yes, hailing, this afternoon, and the internet cafe is nice and warm!
We moved from Invercargill, after having exchanged DVD's at the local spacestation, onto Clifden, stopping en route at 'Cozy Nook'. All along the road there are brown signs pointing out things of interest - you can't possibly stop at them all, but picked this one because of its name. This was a rocky coastal spot, with few people about. We enjoyed a sandwich in the sunshine, and then Rob proceeded to make his way around jumping from rock to rock, as he wasn't 'allowed' to touch the grass!
We meandered on, and got some more supplies, and found out about Clifden Caves, something we planned to check out the next day. As these are caves that haven't been kitted out for the tourist, we bought a new torch, as one our others seems to have disappeared into a black hole!
We went to a Dept of Conservation (DOC) run
Stirling Point, Bluff
Even further from home! campsite that turned out to be nothing more than a small square of grass, with a toilet. There were no other campers about, and there was one dodgy looking local on a bike - neither of us felt comfortable to spend the night so we headed to another DOC campsite, this time a larger square of grass with 2 longdrop toilets, 30km from the main road. This time there were likeminded campers around, so we settled here for the night. We saw the best night sky - it was absolutely clear, and the sky was full of more stars than we had ever seen.
The next day, we set off for Clifden Caves, both having plucked up a bit of courage for what was ahead of us - it was going to be about an hour walking/crawling underground. As we turned the corner to the carpark, we spotted that a whole bus load of school children had just been dropped off for a bit of activity. That ruined it for us, and not keen on the idea of having a bus load of kids in front of us panicking, or screaming behind us, we decided to give them a
miss. Both of us were a bit disappointed as they were too far out of the way to make a journey back to.
We headed north to Manapouri, which has a total of 170 inhabitants - so no big shopping district there! We had a walk around and decided to continue up to Te Anau, the last point before embarking on the journey to Milford Sound. We camped on the tiniest site (this campsite they really did squeeze you in like sardines), and got ourselves set for the next couple of days - food, petrol and a warm hat! We went for a walk in the afternoon, winding up at a lake. This was the start of one of the great walks, and it was a nice 2hr walking (although according to the signs it should have taken 3hrs).
We set off for Milford early the next day, as we had read that the road can become quite busy, and before any of the coach loads of people had started their journey. The early morning light meant that a few animals thought that they would be safe still crossing the road, and a rabbit had a very close
shave!
We stopped at a couple of the sights along the road, one of them being the 'mirror lakes'. Here you are supposed to be able to see the reflection of the mountains in the lake, but this lake amounted to no more than a village pond! We subsequently saw better lakes and reflections.
We had chosen to do a walk along the road, and this was a 3hr return walk to 'Key Summit'. We had some breakfast and set off just after nine am. Nobody told me that the first hour was all up hill! It was quite tough going, but the views were fantastic - that is until the rainclouds came rolling over, obscuring everything. We made it to the top, where like good Englishmen, we had a cup of tea!
Walking back down was a lot kinder to the legs, although these were now wet legs! We continued our walk down to one of the huts on the route. Here the heavens just opened, so we decided to call it a day, and headed back to Sally. A change of clothes later, and soup and a sandwich we felt human again. The rain did
not stop at all, so we went to a campsite, and had a good reading session. The owners of this campsite had a good sense of humour, with a 2 dollar coin stuck to the floor in the office, a pair of legs wearing welly boots sticking out of the grass outside of the kitchen and a replica stonehenge (a pile of stones).
The next morning we had decided to go onto Milford Sound regardless of the weather - we had been told that some of the best cruises are when it is raining so that the waterfalls have more water. As it was, when we woke up, the skies were clear. The journey there was along winding roads, and you then have to cross through the middle of one of the mountains through the Homer Tunnel. This tunnel is 1.2km long, poorly lit, and at a descending gradient. Not the nicest tunnel that either of us has been through!
We pulled up at Milford Sound and the views were fantastic. We rushed along to the booking office to get ourselves onto one of the cruises. We set off on the boat at 10am, on a 1hr45 cruise
of the Fiord. Wow! (If a little cold!). The whole time we were out the skies were clear, and because of the heavy rain the day before all of the waterfalls were gushing. The best of both worlds!
What you will not be able to appreciate from the photos is the size of our surroundings. One of the waterfalls was three times the height of Niagra Falls, and one of the mountains a mile high. Everything is so big that you lose perspective.
On a way back to mainland, we stopped at Milford Underwater Observatory. They have lowered an observatory platform 9m under the sea, so you can see the animals in their natural habitat. You can also see corals that are normally found at greater depths but because of a layer of freshwater stained with tannins (cutting out the light) sitting on top of salt water, they survive at these moderately shallow depths. The tour guide had an awful job - showing people fish one day, and then diving the next - what a hard life!
Last night we made our way beyond Te Anau, stopping just beyond Mossburn. The campsite owner, Paddy, was psychic as
without prompting proceeded to tell me of where I could get some good fish and chips - I had been craving some fish for a few days! So that was it set - fish and chips for tea! Not quite up to English standards (the chips just aren't soggy enough!), but good all the same.
We are now in Queenstown, yet again sheltering from the elements. Our journey here was pretty interesting as the fuel light was on for the majority of the journey, and not a petrol station in sight. Luckily we did come across one just in time - the petrol man has met a few people in the same situation as us! The distances between places are considerable, and then when you get there, you never know what you are going to find.
It has stopped hailing and we are going to go out and enjoy Queenstown!
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dave,clare&brats
non-member comment
is this runnable russ
i think i can safely say as long as there is water in it russel will have a go at getting down it.hope all is well and dont let hm lead you a stray ,when do you want us to send the boys out to you so u can see them