We got up in the campsite and filled up/emptied the different tanks of Colin the campervan before heading to the supermarket to do a shop. We got quite a lot of stuff, including treats like marshmallows and hot chocolate, as well as pasta and rice etc, and it only cost us £10 each which is quite good.

After filling up with diesel (there are no petrol stations on the 240km round trip to Milford) we set off for Milford Sound. The journey took me two hours to drive, and apart from a couple of hairpin bends and lots of corners of varying angles, it wasn't as hard as I has expected - the AA recommends that it is for experienced drivers only.

Once we arrived at 2pm Sophie and Vicky went off to book a cruise for 3pm, and then we had some lunch before setting off. As it is not peak season, the big boat was almost empty which was nice. The weather was absolutely fantastic as well, not a cloud in the sky. The sounds are amazing - they are absolutely huge, but you don't realise quite how huge until you have something to compare them to. We saw a helicopter fly past them which looked like a fly next to the massive mountains. We also found out what a sound actually is (a river cast valley) and then found out that Milford Sound isn't actually a sound at all, but it is in fact a fjord (a glacier cast valley). I was pleased to hear that as I have always wanted to see some fjords.

After the lovely cruise, Hannah did the drive back to Te Anau where we parked up overnight on the main street. The 60min parking rule only applies between 8am and 6pm, so we knew we were fine - we've been freedom camping for over a week now with no problems. We shared a bottle of wine over dinner and settled down to watch some fuzzy tv (not much signal in this end of the road town). At about 10pm, there was a knock on the door. We weren't sure whether to answer it but we decided we should. It was a local man saying 'you aren't gonna cimp here are ya? This is our home! We don't want you cimping here!'. We thought of a whole load of things we should have said to him after the event, (it's perfectly legal, we're no different from a car being parked in the bay, we can't move we've been drinking, you will be in bed and therefore we won't be affecting your life in the slightest etc) but decided to just move around the corner to keep him quiet. We realised as we started driving that we had all had some wine, and the alcohol limit here is zero, so we decided to just stay on the same street. We'd rather annoy a tipsy local than get in trouble with the police!

xxx