Ferry Crossing

Today was a long travel day to get back over to the North Island. This morning was gorgeous and sunny, although a bit breezy, so we walked nearby the campground to Monkey Bay. It's a very short trail to a small protected bay with blue waters, limestone cliffs and bull kelp. Since the water was way too cold to swim, and there was no surf, we headed out of the campsite to get in one more wine tasting before the ferry.

When we arrived at Saint Claire's vineyards for the wine tasting, we sat at a sunny wooden table outside in the rose garden next to the grapes. They had four wines for tasting indoors and afterwards we enjoyed a freshly made bagel with locally caught smoked salmon, and a crisp cold glass of chardonnay. Erich loved the green-lipped mussels which were really good.

Too much time spent lingering in the garden over good food and wine meant we had to hurry to the ferry terminal in time for the 1:10 trip across the Cook Strait. Luckily we had fairly calm seas and clear skies to look around from the sun deck on top of the boat.

Once we arrived in Wellington, it was a scramble to get out of the city before rush-hour traffic (which really isn't much anyway, but you never know) and head back up north for the last week of our trip. We had hoped to try out fly-fishing before heading over to the west coast to check out the surf.

So what's it like living in this cushy camper for over three weeks now? I've lived out of plain old vans before, but this in no van. This is a high-end Wilderness Fiat camper and really, the best one we've seen since we've been here. Some are so tiny with only a little bed in the back, and some are massive RVs that take up the whole road and cannot make it into remote campsites, while others are just poorly designed so the passenger cannot get through to the back of the van without going around to the side door. Our camper is just under 18 feet long, and just over 6 feet wide which is a managable size for most roads and parking lots.

Basically, it's like living in a New York apartment as I always tell Erich. There are no modern day neccessities missing, and essentially, we have everything, plus more views, than we've got back home. There is a decent size bathroom (although we employ a strict no pooping rule unless it's an absolute emergency) with a hot shower and small sink. The kitchen is about the size of my college studio, with a four burner gas stove, oven and sink, complete with all the pots and pans, bowls, teapots, wine glasses, french presses, cheese grater, vegie peelers, measuring cups etc that you could ever need. Not to mention the vent and lights over the stove. And what's on the menu, you ask? Well, tonight was spinach and ricotta ravioli with a creamy tomato roasted mushroom sauce and pulled roast chicken breast with a side salad of spinach, cucumber, red pepper and avocado. Served with a crisp clean 2007 Mt Riley Sauvingon Blanc from the vineyard in Marlbourough. Last night was organic veggie curry with brown basmati rice and a local cloudy wheat micro-brew. And of course, the fish is always fresh and local. It's great that you can basically cook anything you want in this thing.

Moving into the back of the camper, there is a living/dining space with a 3-sided couch and pillows around the removable table where we eat a lot of our meals. Now this part is even better than home; fabulous surround sound speakers that connect to the stereo/ipod hookup (thanks mrs. stacie, we are rocking out to your tunes!) and the 22" flat screen tv and dvd player. At night, this space converts into the queen size bed we sleep in, complete with fluffy comforter and fleece blankets. The ceiling has three screened vents, and the windows are screened which is nice. In the back, there is a grill and lawn chairs and table for hanging outside of the camper. So, yeah, we could easily live in this thing for another few months no problem. Especially when we get to park on the beach and listen to the waves, or next to a raging river, or pull into a quiet field surrounded by mountains.

For tonight, it's a quiet campsite in Tongariro National Park in the woods, next to a stream. The cloud cover is keeping things warm and, unlike the south island, there are no black flies!

Kaikoura and Blenheim

The weather today was gorgeous, and was the warmest day we'd felt in while. Blue skies with some white puffy clouds, and a hot sun warmed us up and felt like summer. In the mountains it had been nice in the sunshine, but always pretty cold in the shade or when the wind blew.

We headed out of our little roadside camp on toward the town of Kaikoura. The town is famous for it's whale-watching cruises since a pod of Sperm Whales lives there year round. In summer you can also see Orcas and in winter there are Humpbacks. The town used to be based around whaling, but since 1924 it's just been a fishing town. We had no idea the area would be so incredibly stunning. It was like New Zealand and Hawaii, all in technicolor. The water was glowing turquoise and looked like photos we've all seen of Tahiti. The pastures were the greenest of greens and the snow-capped mountains stark against the blue sky. It looked like a tropical paradise meets Colorado and we were impressed.

We pulled into the "South Bay" parking lot in order to do the walk around the peninsula that sticks out from Kaikoura. The walk follows the water and goes up a steep hill to the top of the cliffs overlooking the ocean. The whole time you're walking in the green grounds of cows and sheep, they seem to have the best views, but it was a popular trail with many people. Once we reached the yellow lighthouse at the end of the cliffs, we headed down to the water and walked back to the car along the ocean.

We passed nesting grounds of hundreds of sea birds, and saw dozens and dozens of the New Zealand fur seals. They are actually very threatening as Erich found out. He had rounded a slight corner in the rocks and was looking down as you had to walk on the rock and over tidepools. He didn't see the seal laying to his right and it popped up and started making a weird hissing sound and showing his teeth when he saw Erich. For the rest of the walk, we were paranoid about getting too close to these guys. In the crystal clear water we could see shells and bull seaweed along the way.

Sweaty and tired from the long walk, we drove into town for some fish and chips and veggie burger takeaway and sat at an ocean overlook for lunch. The fish was really good, and of course very fresh. We did not realize that the drive north to Blenheim was actually two hours, we were guessing about 45 minutes. We were so pleasantly surprised with Kaikoura that we had lost track of time and now would barely make it in time for the vineyard wine tastings that we had planned.

The Marlbourough Wine Trail is one of the must-dos in the South Island according to our book and everyone we had talked to about it. In the most concentrated section of the wine region here, within only 3 miles there are over 25 vineyards. This area is where most of the New Zealand white wines come from, although they do make Pinot Noir as well.

We got there just before they were closing, so we raced into a winery called Mt Rimel for the tasting. The place had a very chic modern feel to it, and the wine was actually very good. We were a little disappointed that everywhere else had closed for the day, but if we are up for it in the morning we might go back to some before taking our ferry back over to the North Island.

After searching out a grocery store, we only had to go about 10 minutes to the beach camping area we had decided on for the night. The beach is beautiful, although the waves are completely flat, and it's nice to sleep on the ocean for our last night on the South Island.

Hanmer Springs

After a brief hike around Cave Springs in Arthur's Pass, we started driving back to the main road and then north to Hanmer Springs. The cave was very cool, with a stream running right into the large mouth of a limestone grotto. People were allowed to go through the entire cave, in cold waist-deep waters, and would have to climb up several small waterfalls in the pitch blackness other than their headlamps. Although we had our wetsuits and briefly considered it, after my last caving experience, we decided to pass. There was also some bouldering in this area but because of lambing season you were required to get a permit.

On the road to Hanmer Springs, we stopped at the Yummy Food Cafe so Erich could try a meat pie which he was excited about. After watching "Sweeny Todd," I was less excited about this idea. Nonetheless, he ordered his mince pie and said it was quite good.

We arrived in Hanmer in time to join the white-water rafting trip we had wanted to try. The river was more mellow, only being a class 2, which was perfect for me. We watched a couple people bungie jumping off the massive river bridge (no, thank you) as this location called Thrillseekers Canyon offered many trips and potential ways to hurt or kill yourself. We stuck to the rafting and met up with the group of three little kids from Australia, their dad, and our guide. We put on our thick wetsuits and booties and dragged the raft down the hill to the river. The wind was gusting through the canyon, so we went much faster than usual according to the guide. I had imagined the raft just goes straight down the river, facing forward most of the time, but that's not really the case. There was lots of spinning action and going backwards, and some paddling through sections to help the guide steer.

The rapids were really fun, but nothing overwhelming or dramatic. The scariest part of the trip in my opinion was the guide constantly trying to get people into the water, either by having them jump off the rocks on the side of the canyon (which the kids did) or by pushing Erich into the freezing cold river. I clung on to the ropes for dear life as I did not want to take a dip on the cool windy day and be freezing for the rest of the ride.

Once we pulled up onto the rocky riverside at the end of our float, apparently you get a two-for-one sort of deal as the jet-boat is what takes you back to where we started. I had never even heard of a jet-boat before this trip, although the guide said we do have them back in the States. It basically works the same way as a jet-ski, pulling up water and shooting it out the back so it can get very fast without a propeller. This allows them to drive the thing in ridiculously shallow water, like some spots of the river, get extremely close to canyon walls and do full 360s in the middle of the river.

The guides loaded the raft onto the back of the jet-boat and we all hopped in. The jet-boat ride was nothing short of insane and I can see why we don't have them in the US. The driver would aim directly at rocks and canyon walls, going 100 Km/hr and then swerve out of the way at the last second. At one point he headed right for a rocky overhang and at the last second tilted the boat so we were less than 6 inches from the rock. If Erich had stuck his hand out the side it would have been gone. The spins required you held onto the bars in front of the seat as the boat whipped around, spraying the entire side of the canyon with water. Erich had actually wanted to go jet-boating, so lucky for him I got suckered into it even though I had not wanted to voluntarily sign up for the experience.

Following our afternoon on the river, we stripped out of our damp wetsuits and headed over to the Hanmer Springs Thermal Pools, which is what made the area so popular. The pools are all spring fed, at different temperatures, some with chlorine and some just pure spring water. The place was packed, as it is a three-day weekend here in the Canterbury region. The Kiwis actually just had a 4-day weekend when we arrived here, so we were surprised to learn there was already another holiday.

We decided to spend just a little bit more and get our own private thermal pool, complete with a private shower and drinking water. This was well worth it judging by the masses in the public pools on such a busy weekend, and we loved our hot soak for an hour in the tub. Plus we got to take a real shower, not just a 2 second camper van shower, which was heavenly.

Feeling relaxed and toasty from the soak, we walked to a nearby restaurant for some dinner. We had decided on an Indian place since the curries are so good here (from the British influence), but they were desperately understaffed on such a crowded weekend and we got tired of the wait and went next door to Robbies instead. They had fresh caught salmon, from the rivers right around here, and it was cooked perfectly. It had a bit of a different flavor from our salmon, but delicious all the same. The vegetables here seemed to all be on steroids, as we've noticed in the grocery stores, and the capers on the fish were the size of olives. The asparagus was about the size of a carrot, and the leeks in the grocery are so huge we cannot even fit them in the fridge. The best part is that everything is so fresh and grown locally.

After dinner we struggled to find a place to camp. The holiday parks were extremely full from the long weekend and all of the rest stops or dirt roads had signs posted that overnight parking was not allowed. This seemed to becoming the norm for places that were really popular with tourists, especially on the South Island. At one point we pulled off the main road to look at our map, and there was a tap on the window. It scared me since it was pitch black outside, but when Erich rolled down the window, it turned out it was just the milk truck driver who had stopped to see if we needed help or directions. It was unusual to us to have this young, clean-cut, nice looking guy who was just out driving the milk truck from the dairy, stop and make sure we were okay. These things just don't really happen to us back home, but it seems to be the way of life here.

We finally gave up looking and pulled into a small grassy picnic area just off the main road. It wasn't one of our five-star scenic camping spots, but it was fine and quiet for the night. The wind was whipping through the huge oak tree we parked under, and aside from that, it was just sheep sleeping in their paddocks on the other side of the camper.

Arthur's Pass

Today was a big hiking day at Arthur's Pass National Park. Although the park is clearly a way for people to get from the East side of the island to the West, complete with the Alpine Railway and telephone lines down the valley, it is also a gorgeous park once you get off the main road. It doesn't seem like too many other tourists are here like we kept seeing around the glaciers and the Fiordlands. Mostly it looks like locals and climbers predominantly use this park, and most others are just passing through.

The hikes we had chosen from our guidebooks started with the Devil's Punchbowl Falls hike which was a steep uphill climb, mostly on wooden steps, to the dramatic falls coming straight off the cliff. We feel as though we have seen just about every variation of waterfall here on our trip, almost one hike a day is to a falls, but even still, they are amazing to see and we never get tired of them.

Next we drove up valley to the Dobson Nature Walk. We got a kick out of the signage stating that Arthur's Pass was named after a white explorer (Arthur Dobson), yet a Maori guide led him through the pass and told him where to go! In general, many of the Maori people here seem a bit angry. At first we took some offense to getting scowling looks and even flipped off by one Maori woman while driving. But the more time we spend here, the more we've come to understand why they would be annoyed at white people. Imagine you have your own Garden of Eden, where everything is in balance and nature and people are in harmony. Then Abel Tasman comes along, and before you know it, all of your seals and whales are about extinct, there are rabbits, then stoats and then possums running around everywhere, ruining the ecosystem while killing off Kiwi birds, and on top of it, all of your sacred places have been "discovered" and named after white guys. So, in a way, I've come to feel a little badly for these people here, who were once so at home.

But back to the Dobson Nature Walk, we had a nice little tour around the valley and saw the Giant Mountain Buttercups (the biggest buttercup in the world) and even found a couple of boulders to play around on while we were there. The alpine wildflowers in this area are supposedly the best in the park.

After a little lunch, we set out on the Bealey Spur hike which was supposed to have outstanding views. They really were impressive, with the towering snowy peaks of Arthur's Pass and deep river valleys all around us. The hike went through a dense Beech forest with a carpet of lush green moss until it popped out on a ridge along a deep river canyon. Eventually we crossed trough a bog (or Tarn as they say) on boardwalks and continued up through a Tussock field to the Bealy Hut, a few hours after we started. We were happy to relax at the top for a snack and take in the views before heading back down to the camper.

We were tired after the hike, and joked about the comment in the guide book that this hike was appropriate for families and children! I'm not sure how many American kids have hiked 6 miles up steep tracks along sheer drop-offs recently, but I couldn't imagine this statement in the US. It has been interesting to see the variety of people on these hikes here. It seems as though everyone is really into hiking and backpacking and it's just been a part of their lives since they were little. Today Erich asked me if there was a Dunkin' Donuts at the top once we had passed three very round ladies, but really, it was great to see so many different people out and hiking.

Tonight we are sleeping on a gorgeous glassy mountain lake and are so close that if you look out the back windows you feel as if you're in a boat actually out on the water. Some locals are here in their campers as well, but everyone is quiet and seemingly happy to be away for their long weekend as Monday is a local holiday here.

Catlins to Arthur's Pass

Yesterday morning there were heavy rain showers moving through the area and very gusty icy cold winds. It was unusual that it would rain for about 15 minutes, then be nice and sunny for 15 minutes (although still windy) off and on for pretty much the whole day. I immediately wrote off surfing once I felt the outdoor temperatures which are common in the mornings before things have had a chance to warm up. Erich, however, thought it would be great to paddle out, about half a mile from the penguin nesting grounds I might add, for a little surf, alone. Even the local Kiwis camped at the site weren't out in the water. Sea lions loafed on the rocky coast, although the surf break was in front of a river mouth and a sandy beach. It didn't look too big, maybe head-high, but when he paddled out a big set rolled in and it was apparent just how big it really was out there. And barreling and heavy, too.

He managed to get a few short rides in the half hour or forty minutes he was out there, and when he came back in, his face and hands were beet red. He tried to claim it wasn't so cold, but we all know that is just not true.

After he thawed out with some hot cocoa in the camper, we headed out for a little hike to Puranukai Falls, which was terraced and in a quite mossy wood. We considered doing another hike along the river, but part of the road to get there was closed and we decided if we wanted to see Dunedin, we should get going. The drive was long and mostly farmfields, and we arrived at Dunedin late afternoon to drive out on the Otago Penninsula to the Royal Albatross Colony. These birds are said to have a 10ft wingspan and are very rare. Unfortunately, once we got out there, the center was closed and we did not see any out on the windy sea bluffs. A bit disappointed, but still enjoying the scenic drive, we passed by Larnach Castle (which was also closed for touring), the only castle in New Zealand built by an eccentric Scottsman.

On the drive north from Dunedin, we stopped off at the Moeraki Boulders, a short walk up the beach. I wasn't expecting much at this stop, just some round boulders that are a tourist attraction, but when we got out to them, they were really impressive. They are perfect spheres, but some were broken open. Inside you could see different rock, such as iron and quartz, but just a hollow center in the middle. They looked like some sort of alien pods, and some had veins and texture on the exterior. They are partly submerged by the ocean, and apparently, that's where they came from some 60 million years ago.

After stopping off to sleep at a roadside recreation reserve, we drove into the town of Ashburton on the way up to Arthur's Pass National Park. The town was very cute and we decided to stop and have breakfast at one of the little coffee shops. We also stopped at Ashton, a crafts village, where I FINALLY found some yarn. We've seen thousands and thousands of sheep, and at least a hundred alpaca, but there seems to be no yarn for sale anywhere! This store wasn't bad, but many of the wools were imported from Australia.

Continuing on through Darfield, we headed onto Arthur's Pass, which takes you to the opposite side of the island through Arthur's Pass National Park. We had decided to skip Christchurch as big cities and camper vans have not gone together all that well in the past. The van seems to increase in size once we get onto the narrow city streets with lots of other traffic, rotaries and pedestrians.

Once near Arthur's Pass, we happened to see Castle Hill, one of the premier bouldering areas in New Zealand. There were so many limestone boulders strewn across the grassy hillside, that we had to grab our climbing shoes and go check it out. We spent the sunny afternoon wandering around the conservation doing what problems we could. Since neither of us had climbed in at least a year, everything felt pretty hard, but we managed quite a few fun pocketed problems before becoming too tired to continue trying. There were endless boulders there but we only saw about a dozen climbers all day.

Further into the park, we found an empty mountain meadow to park the camper for the night. Mountains surround the van with the river off in the distance. It is cooler up at this altitude, and the peaks are still cover with snow. We couldn't ask for a better spot to camp out for the night.

ERICH SAYS:

Surfing with Penguins: Yes, I did choose to paddle out in what was probably the coldest, most off shore wind blown, fur seal (editors note--Fur Seals weigh upwards of 300 pounds or more where as San Diego seals are more like the Toy Poodle of the seal world weighing in the 100 pound range....fur seals have tusks), and the resident crested penguin colony, in a location farther South than any other continent in Australasia reaches. But come on mate, the locals were having a go at it and the A-frames at Sunset the night before were some of the best looking waves we have seen since living in Hawaii. Go figure the locals who were surfing until about 930pm the night before were sleeping in after our 40 knot pounding rain all night and had not hit the water by 10am still. Since the sun was poking its head in and out all morning I had to give it a go as we brought booties and how cold could it really be, even if the penguins call this their Northern home.

Sara obviously looked at me like I was insane, but it was not the cold water that concerned me, more of the toothy friends that swim these chillier waters and the 25 knot gusts of wind that were wrapping around the outside of the point giving us off shores in the valley, but creating a mess of soup style ocean just a quarter mile out to sea. You never know what kind of currents and rips those winds can develop and I really did not want to see the Kiwi rescue plan in action while Penguins and Fur Seals swam by me in the opposite direction as I was ripped out to Australia or Antarctica which was the direction the wind seemed to be going.

So in good old Kiwi "just have a go at it kayak hell fashion" I donned the wetsuit, jogged over the sheep turds (which were grazing by our camper in the AM outside their pens for some reason), past the shivering kiwis who even they thought it was still too cold, and into the penguin filled abyss.

As Sara stated, what seemed like head high A-frame barrels quickly turned into head and a half high sand bar meat grinders on the sets as I was duck diving the first few waves paddling for the horizon to prevent the ice cream headache repeated underwater head dips create. I dropped on a couple medium sized rights and found the wind was really whipping under the board preventing a clean speed line down the face and kicked out without much fan fare, of course, minus all kiwi camper/surfer eyes which were now eager to see if it was worth paddling out themselves. I finally realized the lefts had a steeper drop but quickly shoulder up into a soft lip so I took 2 or 3 or those and decided that the 40 minute mark was when my hands were now lobster claws and could no longer stay cupped to paddle. Luckily, no Antartica sightings, fur seal growling contests, penguin swatting, or big tooth sharky monsters appeared. The only reall scare was the burly sand bar that must have went from 15' to 3' instantly creating some HEAVY peaks. Of course the minute I hit the beach one of the kiwis decided to paddle out which would have been nice to have a friend in the water to make it a little less scary, but then again, we always complain about crowded surf so I guess to surf by ourselves we just have to endure the cold and penguins at the wave will be ours to enjoy.

Albatross/Penguin viewing:

New Zealand maps and guides have this funny need to tell you where and when you are about to pass some species of bird colony. Apparently since New Zealand "had" no mammals (Editors note: until the Europeans introduced the rabbit, possum, and stoat successively to kill the other once over populated) the bird population and variety easily evolved to be one of the greatest in the world. Due to this, many bird tourists and naturalist come to New Zealand for bird watching and it seems to be big business.

Now "big business" is the key here. 99.9% of things the Kiwis do is probably 1000 times better than we do as Americans, but this one thing with the birds, it gets really annoying. If you want to see someone get really annoyed, or down right mad, come on a trip to New Zealand with Sara after she has hiked an hour or drove miles out of her way to see one of these so called "bird sanctuaries."

What certain enterprising New Zealander's who happen to have land which has been gifted, purchased, inherited, or however they have obtained in which resident Albatross, penguin, egret, or other rare species decides to call home is charge a small fee for the viewing and protection of said birds. Now this is all fine and well since we know Euro Billy Bob and half of Tokyo would be stomping all over the nests of these birds so they could take their perfect home videos and these "sanctuaries" would protect the birds and the small fees that were collected would go towards scientific studies and further protection of the species.

This all sounds just great, good idea, very helpful to the world of birds, but the average charge to get see what is always quoted "as the only spot on Earth to see these birds" is usually $25-$30 U.S. dollars per person!

Sara's point of view, you don't own the birds so why the heck should I have to pay to go see them! Unfortunately these birds are calling the private landowners "land" home, so they figured out a way to seem helpful to the bird world and make a quick buck (or in my estimate by the buses piling in at each bird reserve $100s of thousands).

FYI.....the Albatross is not flying along the cliffs, you will have to pay $28/person to view them in the specially made boxes conveniently located on the opposite side of the hill from the car park viewing area.

Besides, just go surfing on the southern tip of the south island and you will see all the penguins you could ever dream of.

Catlins

This morning we woke to cloudy skies, but no rain, and the flowing river out our camper van window. We decided to move on to our next stop, The Catlins. There is no national park there, but many waterfalls, lakes, blowholes and beaches to visit.

Instead of taking the more direct inland route, our guidebooks recommended the tourist scenic route along the coast. This way was probably much nicer than the farm-field treadmill that the inland route would have followed, although we got our fill of sheep and cows this way as well.

We made a few stops along the way, the first being the Clifden Swing-bridge, which was built in 1899 and is now closed to traffic. It was an impressive achievement with 28 cables holding up the bridge over the river. Right nearby, we visited the limestone cave network that begins in a farmer's sheep field. The cave entrance is just barely visible behind small trees and set way into the ground. We crept into the cave, and it was small and wet and dark and seemed to go on forever. There were reflective markers placed throughout the cave so you knew which way to go, but at one point I turned off my headlamp and it was so black you could not see an inch in front of you. Once I noticed some spiders on the walls and stared to feel a little claustrophobic, I was ready to get out of there. We exited in the same sheep-field, just up the road from where we parked.

Heading back down the road, we passed small towns and farms until we came to the southern coast. There was a little surf break we checked out, but decided to keep on going. Through the big city of Invercargill, we headed on to Slope Point, the most southern point on the South Island. It did feel a bit like we were at the edge of the world, with a big cliff drop-off to the windswept sea and nothing further. Past this point, we arrived at the Curio Bay Petrified Forest where trees had turned to fossils over 170 million years ago. They were strewn about the oceanfront, in petrified form, and were cool to see. However, the wind was gusting at least 35-mph, so it didn't make for a great spot to stick around.

Further down the road, we hiked out to McLean Falls which was a beautiful hike and falls at the end. The river was brown from hillside run-off, but the falls were nice anyway. We also hiked around Lake Wilkie which had some signage on the stages of the forest and information about the lake.

Looking for our next campsite, we checked out Florence Hill Overlook and the beach and islands below were stunning with the windy waves marching in. We decided to camp at the end of the dirt road, where there was a small campground, just past Purakaunui Falls at the beach. When we got there at about sunset, we saw a handful of surfers out in the water, and a gorgeous a-frame peak peeling in, sheltered from the wind. We were disappointed we did not have more daylight to get out there, but hope for good conditions in the morning. I'm not totally convinced, as I was standing there in my warmest down jacket and penguins live on this beach, but I figure I could handle the cold water for a little while at least. It seems to be a popular spot with locals as they are out in the water and have their dogs and tents here. The campsite is great with a view out the windows of the dramatic sea-cliffs that drop straight into the ocean, and the surf-break off to the south.

Fiordlands

We slept in a bit this morning, not wanting to get out from under the warm blankets and face the onslaught of blackflies tapping at our windows. I counted 85 of them hounding us along the glass windows trying to sneak into the van. Once we did get up and eat breakfast, we headed back up the road to the Routeburn Track parking area for a hike.

We chose to head up the Key Summit Track which forks off the Routeburn track after about an hour and goes uphill to the summit. The entire area surrounding us was all part of Fiordlands National park and the trail was well maintained and a solid walk upwards. We passed a tiered waterfall on the way before ascending above many of the big trees and began to see the mountain peaks nearby. Once we reached the top, we had a perfect 360 degree view of all the ranges around the Key Summit. Snow-capped peaks seemed to shoot up out of the river valley below, often in vertical cliffs of granite. We ate some lunch at the top for a rest while taking in the amazing alpine scenery. There was a short nature walk that looped around the summit, and then we headed back down into the woods towards the van.

Driving up the road a few minutes, we parked in Hollyford to do the short hike up river to Marion Falls. The falls were more of a section of rapids and we found a big boulder and sat in the sun for a bit right on the river rushing by us. The sun is so warm, yet the wind is a frigid temperature, and in the shade is pretty darn cold. The hike had wooden decking that stuck out and over the river to give a better view of the falls.

Returning back towards the town of Te Anau, away from Milford, we were able to get in some laundry (which we desperately needed to do) and grocery shopping. It was tough to find any water in town to fill up the camper, and eventually we ended up just pulling into one of the bigger Holiday Parks and taking some.

We headed south of Te Anau on the scenic route of highway 95, which we'll follow for the next day or so around the southern tip of the island. Stopping at Rainbow Beach (or Reach on some maps) we did a quick sunset hike before finding a place to camp. The walk started with an extremely long swing-bridge across the green deep river, and into a quiet old growth forest. At the top of the first little rise, a New Zealand Falcon, or Pekeakea, swooped in low and just missed us by inches. A second later we approached a sign that warned of nesting Falcons dive-bombing people and taking the hats off their heads. Luckily, we avoided the bird for the rest of the trail. The river was gorgeous lit by the setting sun, and we hiked through the dense woods until we thought it would be too dark to get back to the camper. Of course we always forget that the sun doesn't even think about setting here until at least 8:30, so we probably had more time than we thought.

Back in the camper, we drove a few miles down the "highway" to a gravel road that led down to the riverside. We were happy to see not one No Camping sign so we got as level as we could on the banks of the river and settled in for the night.