Fiordland Part2-the sequel ! The weather forecast was as good as it could be for a part of the world that gets over 200 days per year of rain so we set off on the 5 hours drive back from Queestown to Milford Sound on Saturday and spent the night in the National Park as close as we could get to Milford Sound (it was very cold & rained all night & there was even snow above 800M altitude, but the forecast for the next day was good). This was so that we could be up and be at Milford Sound for the first departure of the morning - which we were- bright and on the boat for the first departure at 08-45 and the weather was fine, excellent visibility this time.

Neither of us could decide if we preferred the spectacular sheer cliffs of Milford Sound or the amazing scale and isolation of Doubtful Sound which is much longer. Well we eventually got to see both after a LOT of driving -look at the photos & see for yourself.

That afternoon, making the most of the fine weather we went on a "walk" (another climb on all 4s over trees roots & rocks for 2 hours) to Lake Marian. Stewart got very grumpy again but had to admit the end result was worth it - a beautiful emerald green lake surrounded by snow covered mountains where we had a picnic.

That evening we set off back on the 5 hour drive to Queenstown & found a nice freedom camping spot by a river.

You are given the impression before you come to NZ that "Freedom Camping" i.e. just stopping and spending the night anywhere you like is easy. It's not. New Zealand can be divided into either National Parks or probably 80% of the country is farmland. So whilst there are very few people, it's generally not allowed to freedom camp in the national parks and all the farmland is 100% fenced in and not accessible( all the farming is pastureland for animals so they fence it in to keep the animals in - but they also seem to be very "territorial" about "private land").

But we are getting very good at finding places - rivers in particular seem to be in public ownership & New Zealanders are mad keen on fishing so they have lots of tracks & niches alongside many rivers which are ideal for people like us to spend the night - so we LOVE NZ anglers !

Next day we got back to Queenstown and drove an hour further to Glenorchy at the other end of the Lake Wakatipu. This is the last stop before people set off on many of NZ's "Great Walks" (or "Tramps" as they call them). So we decided to get a feel for what they were up to and did most of Day 1 of the "Routeburn Track" which is one of New Zealand's most famous and takes 3-4 days, staying at "huts" along the way. We walked as far as the first "hut" - a sort of comfortable bunkhouse. At that point, after 2 days and about 7 hours driving we found ourselves just 16km from Lake Marian where we'd had a picnic two days earlier - but of course there a couple of mountains in the way and no roads over the top.

Still feeling energetic we travelled back to Queenstown the next day & did a 15km cycle along the edge of Lake Wakatipu before taking a look at the lunatics bungy jumping from a bridge at the place where the idea first started over 20 years ago then heading for a brief overnight stop in Wanaka ( very similar place to Queenstown - mountains, lake, scenery, adventure activities - but a bit more relaxed). Next stop the "infamous" West Coast - where all the guide books say the same thing - "magnificent scenery, no people, would be paradise if it didn't rain 200+ days per year & wasn't plagued with sandflies". We are getting good at defending against sandflies - would we get lucky with the weather ?