Published: 05.01.2024
Today we started our journey to the 8th wonder of the world: Milford Sound.
We took extra time for the long and definitely worth seeing route. We filled up our water bottles with the delicious filtered water from the campsite, bought some fresh fruit, dumped it and set off.
Early in the morning the mountains around Queenstown were covered in a thin thread of clouds. Things got a little greener along the way. After a good 2 hour drive with a sleeping child, we arrived in Te Anau. There we had lunch, a break from the game for E and refueling again. Our favorite things to do on long rides are: sleeping (of course haha), playing plop, singing and of course snacks.
Then we stopped at Mirror Lakes. It was bright sunshine and hardly any wind, and not much going on either. There wasn't really a real reflection though.
Next we walked the Key Summit Track, which is part of the large Routeburn Track. There were also a lot of Germans here during the hike who, when I sang for E, simply sang along :D Once at the top, you had a fantastic view of the surrounding peaks. The extra nature walk was really worth it, the sweet flowers and little footbridges and water were really cool up there. E took part really well and let herself be carried. By the way, we do everything with a normal backpack carrier. We tried a carrier once and it wasn't for us.
She probably ate more than we did on the walk or throughout the day, but whatever :) unfortunately she fell asleep on the way back, so it was a loooong evening for everyone.
Happy back from the alpine walk, we arrived at the campsite dotted with lupins. Benny conjured up a 5 star dish for us and we enjoyed the evening and the view of the beautiful flowers in the valley between the mountains.