Hi Followers,

On Friday we had a mooch around Dunedin town centre although there wasn't heaps to see so we headed in the direction of Lanarch Castle. When we arrived we were fairly disappointed as it looked more like a stately home so we gave it a rain check and hit the southern scenic highway. We made our way along stopping at points to view the local area. We drove down several gravel roads and stopped at Nugget Point to see a lighthouse where there were loads of seals and sea lions lounging around the rocks! They were pretty cool and it was nice to get out of the van for a walk. We took another light walk down to Purakatumi falls which was really pretty. We also drove to New Zealand's Niagara Falls, comically named by a European settler. They were barely a waterfall but still pretty! On the way back to the highway there was a field of baby cows, so we stopped and Hol gave them some fuss then stumbled across a campsite at Curio Bay.

It was an ace little site on a headland jutting out into the sea. It had big flax bush bays to break the wind from every direction and the sea surrounding it is home to a pod of Hectors Dolphins and some of New Zealand's rare Yellow Eyed Penguins. Unfortunately we didn't get to see any of either so we retreated to the campsite to cook dinner, we had the nicest steak in a long time in the shelter of a concrete water tank, it was freezing in the wind! We popped back out after dinner to see if any had emerged, when we stumbled upon a sea lion! There it was, just lounging on the grass doing not a lot of anything! We were starstruck, we didn't know what to do so we crept on past it, took a photo then retreated to the safety of Ironhide!! We were pretty perplexed from the surreal event for the rest of the evening.

After a cold and windy night at the probably the best camp site we have stayed at, we hit the road. We checked that we hadn't missed any penguins or hectors dolphins before we left, and got a few piccies of the massive Southern Ocean waves crashing onto the headland then continued our drive along the southern scenic route. We stopped at a petrified forest - 17 million years old! Still in pretty good condition considering the waves that were pounding it too. We then headed for the southern most point of the south island of New Zealand. It was a windy walk through a field packed full of sheep when we arrived but it was a pretty cool view. We headed back to the warmth of home and drove on to Invercargill... It was a local place for local people so we grabbed lunch, did some 'grocery' shopping and hit the road again. We drove and drove along the southern scenic highway - we must have driven through nearly every climate possible by the time we arrived at Manapouri; gale force winds, rain, bright blue skies and sunshine, the only thing we didn't get was snow! We found a campsite after watching two land-bound lobsters hanging out (or beating each other up) by the roadside, booked onto a tour of Manapouri hydroelectricity station and chilled out for the evening.

We had a lazy day with a much appreciated lie-in. When we got moving we jumped on our boat heading for the hydro-electricity power station which took about 50 minutes to cross lake Manapouri. Unfortunately it was chucking it down with rain so the views weren't great on the way over! When we docked at the other end we got on board our coach that drove us to the power station entrance tunnel. We entered the gates and then drove along the 1.2km spiral road to 200m below the mountain to view the inside of the power station. The road itself was hand dug / blasted so it was quite narrow but pretty impressive! After we viewed the huge underground power station we were driven along Wilmot Pass stopping to take in the amazing scenery. Thankfully the weather had cleared by then so we got to see some beautiful waterfalls and mountains! We also got some great views on the boat back across the lake. We drove to a little town a few kilometres up the road called Te Anau in the late afternoon, found a site, had dinner and did some laundry!

On Monday we'd booked onto a tour of the Glow-worm caves at lake Te Anau. We had brunch by the lake before catching the boat which took about 30 minutes. When we arrived we learnt a bit about the glow worms before walking to the cave entrance. We walked a long way into the caves viewing the natural waterfalls, formations and stream before we reached a little boat which took us into the glow worm cave itself. It was quite an impressive sight, a pitch black cave lit as though there were hundreds of stars! It was quite eerie inside the big dark caves though. We found a campsite, cooked some dinner and mooched through the leaflets in the kitchen, when we stumbled upon a "night sky safari" trip. It was an astronomy guide and it's something we both fancied so we gave them a call and hoped there was space for us as it was a really clear night! Luckily there was a couple of places, so we joined a geek by the name of Richard in a field for an hour and a half making use of his knowledge, binoculars and telescope. It was really cold but a great evening, we learnt all about the night sky, got to see some other milky ways and galaxies, we even saw Jupiter and saw the clouds on it! We headed home and straight to bed as it was quite late!

On Tuesday we got up early and headed straight to the stables for our horse trek around Te Anau. We were given our horses, Ci-Ci and Boris, then we headed straight off up a big hill in search of some good views! Our horses were quite young (4 and 5) so they were on their toes (hooves) quite a lot. We rode for about two hours stopping to get photo's of some truly amazing views, before heading back to the farm. Pete did really well considering it was only his 3rd horse ride and his naughty horse kept trying to take off! In the afternoon we started the long drive to Milford Sound. We drove for ages through rugged mountains finally arriving at the Homer Tunnel, a 1.2km long road through a mountain! After the tunnel we stopped so that Hol could build a snow man then continued to Milford. When we arrived at the town, the only campsite there was fully booked so we had to go half way back to find a DOC (department of conservation) campsite. After Pete raced a mobile-home style van we made it back just in time; the DOC sites only have about 10 spaces and they're really cheap but really basic. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise as the campsite was absolutely stunning! It looked out across a mirror like lake with mountains in the background, beautiful! It was freezing cold so for the first time ever we slept inside the van without the tent room attached.

On Wednesday we got up really early, and headed back to Milford Sound. We jumped onto a boat trip and had a wonderful morning trip around Milford Sound. The weather was perfect, bight blue skies and not a cloud to be seen anywhere. The scenery was breathtaking with the walls of the fiord rising vertically from the sea. We saw some of the local wildlife including fur seals and Fjiordland Crested Penguins. We arrived back at the harbour just as the masses were arriving by coach. Fortunately we were heading in the opposite direction, back through the Homer tunnel (the 4th time!) and after stopping for a late brunch in Te Anau we headed towards Queenstown. When we finally got there after many lookout stops we found a campsite, got food and sorted out the van before getting an early night.

See you on the West Coast!

Love,

Hol and Pete

xXx