Te Anau&Milford Sound ⛴️

Quite early in the morning we went from Queenstown to Te Anau to see Milford Sound the next day. Once I got off the bus, I had to carry my backpack to the hostel for half an hour. I arrived in a residential area with pretty fancy houses (for New Zealand) and so did the hostel. I was greeted by a nice old lady, in her mid-70s, who led me to her husband, the same age, who was getting the rooms ready. I was also introduced to all the guests of the hostel and felt like I was being welcomed into the family. So really, really warmly. Since I was there at half past ten, my room was of course not ready yet, but after breakfast my things were suddenly put into the room by Bob (the owner). The hostel is run by an older couple Bob & Maxime, who definitely live in their guesthouse and are just incredibly warm. The rest of the day in Te Anau was spent by the lake and in the garden of the hostel. Every now and then I need a lazy day to relax after a few intense days, and onward travel days are always a good option for that. Milford Sound was planned for the next day. The bus started at 7:45 so we had to get up early! After about 2 hours of bus travel, the first stop was at the Mirror Lakes, which in my opinion wasn't that exciting. After another 1 1/2 hour bus ride we arrived at Milford Sound. The views alone on the bus ride there are incredible and beautiful, but at the harbor the view of the fjord is simply a number in itself. Simply indescribably beautiful. But as soon as I drove the boat for the first few meters it just became more and more beautiful and breathtaking. However, it also gets colder and colder outside on the deck of the boat, but for the landscape that you get there, it's definitely worth wearing everything I had with me. We saw seals, lots of birds and incredible waterfalls in a 3 hour boat ride out to the open sea, the Tasman Sea. Back on the bus I first had to warm up and let all the impressions sink in. In the evening in the hostel I actually finally met an Austrian on my trip and of course I couldn't miss some schnapps that he had with him. But then I went straight to bed because I had a 40km hike ahead of me the next day. I planned the first stage from the Kepler Track to Luxmore Hut. First you walk for 3 hours through the rainforest until you reach the high plateau and the view is enormous. I took a break there and enjoyed lunch with a great view. But since it was quite windy, we went down again straight away. When I got back down to the lake, I briefly enjoyed the view over the lake, but the sand flakes were quite annoying so I didn't stay for too long. So the last 10km began and we marched back into the city. The evening in the hostel was spent playing cards and having good conversations. The next morning after breakfast we went hitchhiking back to Queenstown. I also met some extremely nice Kiwis and made my love for hitchhiking grow more and more! 🌬️