After a long drive from Invercargill, we made it to Te Anau, back in mountain territory. It is 40 years since I've been here and I can barely remember it, but like all of these places which were just a few streets back then, tourism has happened and small villages have become decent sized towns.

This picture is taken on the Kepler Track. Yes it is deceiving. We only did a little piece of it, an hour in, lunch by the lake, and an hour back but the Kepler is a loop track starting at the lake and going up to alpine scrub and rock. It takes several days to complete the whole thing. We loved walking along beside the lake and among beech forest. The leaves grow high up to catch the sun, creating a beautiful green canopy. Lots of moss too.



We shared a picnic table with a couple of women from Scotland who were enjoying a month in NZ. They commented about the lack of bird life. We too have noticed that there are few birds to be seen, just a few tom tits and bush robins. DOC has laid plenty of traps and I believe they drop 1080, but is it working?

The highlight of Te Anau for us was our trip to Milford Sound. The weather had been patchy but we decided to chance it, and take the easy option - the bus, along with a tour group of young people and 'Cowboy' our driver come entertainer. Fun in small doses. There were lots of photo stops along the way.

Homer Tunnel. 1.2 kilometers through granite.










Apparently it rains in Milford 2 days out of three, so we were lucky with a misty but fine enough day.

The boat trip is truly awesome. Moody mountains looming out of the mist and waterfalls spouting from the cliffs. We even saw a large pod of dolphins. The boats are taken right up to one of the biggest waterfalls and I got quite wet, but it was fun. Fish n chips for lunch were pretty good and we all slept on the way back to Te Anau.

Meeting up with a couple we were parked next to in Nelson back in December, was an unexpected treat. You can make good friends on the road, and NZ isn't so huge that your paths won't cross again.

We left Te Anau on Sunday and headed for Queenstown, about 150 kilometers. Once again I have been there before in a past life but I would not have recognised the place.

There isn't much parking for motorhomes around Queenstown, but we found a spot by the river, along with several small vans, parked there while they went to see the main event for Waitangi Weekend. We drifted off to sleep to the strains of Fat Freddie's Drop, which, fortunately, we quite liked, though we weren't so keen on being woken when our neighbours returned in the early hours to reshuffle their vans so they could fit another one or two in.  Our timing for Queenstown was not the best. The place was buzzing, a little too hyper for us. I didn't expect to like the place, but really, it is lovely town with amazing views out over the lake and those magnificent mountains. There are spectacular views wherever you look and I can see why its become so popular, and expensive. A few hours for a wander round were enough for us to get the gist of it and we were off. First stop Arrowtown. We drove through, but once again, our timing was off and the place was so crowded we didn't even park our rig. Arrowtown I do remember as the prettiest place in autumn with it huge English trees and lovely old buildings. We will be back for sure. We are back in Cromwell for a night or two before heading to Mt Cook.