Milford Sound and West

The next day was our tour via Milford Road to Milford Sound. The drive through the countryside was very beautiful. At 1:30 p.m. our boat set off through the fjord towards the sea, past seals and many waterfalls (e.g. Bowen and Stirling Falls).

However, due to a small infestation of sandflies and mosquitoes, we didn't spend too much time there. Although Henry is still stitch-free so far.

On March 21st Queenstown was on the agenda. On the way we stopped again in Te Anau to buy a poster as a souvenir for Henry.

The way to Queenstown went along Lake Wakatipu and had very nice views.

In Queenstown we had a coffee and looked around the city.

We spent the night at a DOC place in the 12 Mile Delta.

The Ithilien scenes for the Lord of the Rings scenes were filmed there.

The next morning we drove to Glenorchy along a beautiful road, Glenorchy is located in Mount Aspiring National Park. The Misty Mountains scenes for the Hobbit films were filmed there.

We continued to Arrowtown, a small town that exudes a real gold rush/Western charm.

We drove over a great mountain pass to the mountain town of Wanaka. We really liked it there. We went for a walk by the lake and went to a pub. We stayed at a campsite with WiFi, warm showers and electricity - pure luxury 😅

On March 23rd We then drove towards the west coast over the Haast Pass. On the way there were some waterfalls and great stretches of beach to see.

There were a lot of sandflies waiting for us at our campsite at Lake Paringa, so we preferred to spend the evening in the car.

The next day the journey continued to the Fox and Franz Josef Glacier. There we took a short hike to a viewpoint and learned a lot about the area. We then drove further north to the next DOC on a beautiful lake.

On March 25th we had a slightly more relaxed day. Because the weather was bad, we spent some time at the Hokitika library making bookings. We also went shopping there and then drove further north on the west coast. There we found a really great spot right on an endless, lonely beach and decided to spend the night there.