Storms, Tired, Cruising and Views
Night and Morning, Cascade Creek
Last night was horrendous. It was windy when we retired for the night but it blew up into a storm with the van shaking all over the place in the early hours. Very little sleep which is a major concern with being the solo driver and felt awful. After breakfast I felt a lot better but still very tired.
Today was to be one of our big activities with a cruise on the fjord known as Milford Sound. During the overnight winds I had been convinced it wouldn't happen but the winds dropped as morning arrived.
From our van we couldn't see the high ground around us as the cloud hung low. A little optimism is some small breaks but didn't look good for experiencing the Sound.
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| Campground morning |
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| Fozzie |
Milford Road
Out and on the road by 09:10 with what we thoughts was loads of time for our 10:20 check in but the road was slow and time went by. We had decided to just get there and look at Milford Road on the way back so no photos other than the Homer Tunnel queue (Doh!).
It is a single track tunnel controlled by lights and you can wait 15 mins; We had about 8 minutes wait then were on our way again.
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| Homer Tunnel queue |
Cruise Milford Sound
In the event, we got it about right. A none working parking meter cost us a few minutes finding another but otherwise it was smooth and we soon had our boarding cards.
There are a few operators but Lynne had identified Cruise Milford for the maximum 50% capacity operation meaning there was loads of room for everyone outside or in. They proved to be a great choice.
Most of the outward cruise out was in rain and we were glad we had gone with lots of layers. The low cloud was atmospheric but also frustrating knowing that higher cliffs and mountain tops were out of sight.
In the storm of the previous night 45mm of rain had fallen so all the waterfalls on the side of the fjord were in full force.
Barely into the cruise and we were joined for a while by a pod of bottle nosed dolphins including them diving under the bow of the boat which was a real treat. A little further on there were around seven rolling over not far from the boat.
Approaching the opening of the Sound, the Tasman Sea lay ahead and we carried on out until the waves became less comfortable then turned back toward base.
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| Seal Rock |
Seal Rock was true to its name but the four juvenile males fast asleep on it looked very much like four slugs. Lynne and left others to observe this one. :)
We went right into the the splash zone of this one which was great fun.
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| Happy cruisers |
As we made our way back some breaks began to appear in the clouds and the level lifted a little letting us see a little more of the higher features.
Milford Road back toward Te Anau
We headed back along the Milford Road through ancient Southern Beech forest covering the hillsides.
I can understand why generations laid waste to much of this across NZ as the massive trees would have been a rich and easy timber supply. Mercifully NZ seems to have really got a grip on securing the future of it's natural forest.
The Milford Road is well known as a scenic route though it is so long it can get a bit 'samey' and the views tend to be too big to capture. We stopped a few times to take in some of the views as the sky cleared.
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| golden flat valley grassland |
Lakeview campground Te Anau
Having been very tired all day, we were glad to only be returning to Te Anau and were absolutely delighted to pull in to our pitch and find this was our view.
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| view from motorhome pitch |
A couple of glasses of rose in the sun then showers and settle in for the evening.
DOC Cascade Creek, Lake Gunn campground
Cruise Milford
Te Anau Lakeview Holiday Park
Statistics: Miles today: 103 ; Miles so far: 1,854 ; Fuel added so far: 331.5 litres ; South Island; Time Zone: UTC +13 New Zealand Daylight Time (NZDT )
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