South Island Fiorland to Otago Peninsula

30/01
After a restful night and more browsing on the net this morning, we drive to Queenstown, the drive is nice again with many fields, green pastures, fields and mountains, still very few houses....it feels isolated! We see no people but tourists stopping to take piccies of the scenery. The one thing we see all the time is what we call sheep fields!!! Hundreds of sheep scattered in plains or hills, from far away they look like little rocks…but are sheep...amazing to see the number of sheep, there is a joke that there are more sheep than people in NZ. It must be true as there are only 4.5 millions people in that country and it feels like we have seen many more sheep!!!
We see sheep and cows and mountains and hills, green hills...That will become a private joke, every time we drive we count the number of sheep fields...
It is nice to arrive in Queenstown, a busy little town, fairly international, we hear lots of accents, it seems very cosmopolitan, many people come for the adventures and stay here, in this action packed little city...it is the adventure's capital of the country where everyone comes to do bungy jumping, skydiving, jetboating, etc etc...it is a nice town on the shore of a lake as well, very scenic but quite hectic. We do some shopping, Fab needs new walking boots as his are painful and they have to last six months...There are lots of people, many young coming to do adventure activities...we watch a video on the nevis highwire jump, where people jump from 134 metres high, really scary! We both feel tempted to do something mad but then decide to do it somewhere else!!!
it feels nice to be in a city again, we have a nice stroll, we even have a Thai lunch, big change from our home made sandwiches... then we hit the road again to drive to Te Anau, the town entry gate to the fiord land, we do some food shopping as there will be nothing in the area, complete wilderness...The drive to the entry of the Fiordland National Park is great with many misty peaks, cute lakes and a real remoteness feel... no house or human here...in the middle of the way, we stop for the night in a conservation remote campsite, on a very nice green field, there is only one tent and us, the Totara campsite in Fiordland. This part of the country, the Deep South is protected as a World Heritage Area, with glacial fiords, dense rainforest, it is supposed to be raw wilderness and it is!

31/01
We feel lazy again this morning but have to sort out our bags. As we have been infested by bedbugs...We are now sleeping in a plastic bag cover and in silk sheets that protect us from the bugs but they probably are in every cloth we have, oh joy!!! So we clean, sort out the bags, it is a nice morning alone in our quiet campsite, very pleasant. We then drive to Milford, the scenic road is amazing apparently but we are unlucky as it is completely foggy, we can't see more than 2 metres in front of us, stressful on a mountain road in a big van....After a tortuous long road, we reach the Homer tunnel, a one way tunnel of 1207 metres, it is small and very dark. Fab feels very uneasy driving it and starts having claustrophobia symptoms, not a nice feeling....the tunnel has been carved by men and is the only way to access fiorland. We stop after the tunnel and we decide not to cross it again tonight and stay in Milford for the night...we have a walk on the township, go and see the sound, magnificent, with imposing peaks. We sleep at the Milford Sound Lodge because it is the only place there! Feels nice to have hot showers, to cook in a kitchen, we spend the eve, chilling out, Fab writing, me reading in the big lounge, amongst other travellers.

01/02
We book a small Milford sound cruise, it is the best way to see the fiord and cruise through it. it is A nice small boat, we are only 9 people as it is early morning. We chat to a German girl, she has been travelling around for 4 weeks, we exchange tips and marvel at the fiord. She tells us about a rape that happened in a campsite close to here, quite scary...
The fiord is simply stunning, it is inspiring and feels exceptional, Fab takes so many piccies! We cruise through the fiord and see lots of peaks, luxuriant rainforest clinging to rocks and mountains, all washed by many small waterfalls. The Mitre peak dominates the skyline. It has been raining heavily this night so the peaks are full of rainfalls, some are temporary and will dry in two hours. It is a gentle start of the day, with magnificent views, we see more dolphins close to the falls, and we even get a muffin on the boat, I am happy!!!
We then decide to tackle the tunnel as Fab is worried he will feel uneasy again... this time, he managed to overcome the claustrophobia feeling and feels OK driving through it, what a relief. I really wished I did take my driving test before leaving London! We stop for a picnic then go for a long walk-climb in the Milford region, the Key summits walk, a steep ascent to see many peaks and lakes, it is truly beautiful, we really want to come back to walk the Milford Track (4 days walk, 54 kms). We drive the alpine road again to Te Anau, and this time we enjoy it much more as it is sunny. It travels through impressive alpine scenery. We stop to admire the valleys, the summits, the waterfalls. We do more driving as we want to get closer to Dunedin, we drive to a very muddy campsite, looking more like a building site...I start feeling uneasy, what the German girl told me didn't help....A car with two men stops next to us and I am now worried...what if? They move their car but then come close to us again around 1 am and I start panicking....We both won't sleep much, checking the car!! But at 6am, the both leave...and we fall asleep...till 10 am...silly me, anxious for nothing!! They were probably campers too tired to set their tents in the middle of the night, under the rain than thugs!!!!!!!!!!!

02/02
We drive to Dunedin, a city proud of its Scottish heritage, with lots of Victorian buildings, we decide to not stay here as we will soon be in Christchurch and in big cities. We go and go visit the Otago peninsula, which stretches along the southern end of the Otago Harbour, it is very close to Dunedin, it is a nice scenic drive with small bays, green fields, mini beaches. Cute. This place is also known for its wildlife...We go to the Albatross centre but decide not to pay to see the colony, we saw some flying at sea in Kaikoura and it as great...we don't want to pay to see some more but enjoy reading about them, they are so endangered, mainly because of human fishing and long lines...It makes us more aware and from now on we will be cautious when buying fish...it will have to be dolphins and albatross friendly! We then go to Sandfly bay, where we walk in sand dunes and see some ...sea lions!!!! A mother and its pup playing in the sand, so close to us, truly magical!! By chance, we meet some conservation volunteers on the beach and they tell us the baby is only 1 month old and he is special as he is the first one to be born on that beach!! We feel very privileged to see them playing in the sun!! We continue walking seeing seals and more sea lions o the beach, then we reach the viewing hide (hidden in the dune) to observe the penguins!! Nice to seat there, chat to the volunteers, they tell us about the different penguins, the seals who love the rocks and the sea lions who love the sand. We wait, we wait but see nothing, the volunteer advises us to go to another beach, close to where we were planning to camp...so we leave the beach and lucky us, just at the end of the beach, we see two small penguins and they are yellow eyed penguin, one of the world rarest penguins!!!! Slowly, we sit down and watch them, mum and chick are coming back from the sea to their nest!!! A true moment!!! Touching AND magical to see those amazing animals so close to us, free and undisturbed in their natural habitats. We drive to the other reserve, in Moeraki, through a mountain road, the Highcliff road, quite impressive...sea and mountain again. As soon as we arrive, the lighthouse keeper tells us we only have 5 minutes as the reserve closes when the lighthouse lights up...it is around 9.30pm so we rush but from the hide, we see more seals and two penguins, coming out of the sea and walking along...amazing!!! We then drive to another to see more seals and penguins. After a little drive on gravel road with nearly no petrol (tank is nearly empty and we couldn't find a petrol station so late), we arrive safely at the conservation campsite, Trotters gorge. So funny to drive on gravels roads in the dark for 10 minutes in the middle of nowhere and suddenly be surrounded by few other campers!!! Late dinner and off to bed!!!

03/02
We wake up late again and decide to go for a beach walk before leaving the area, so we go back to Moeraki to see the Boulders, some weird big rounded rocks, looking like big balls scattered on the beach, nice walk then we managed to find some petrol and make our way to Oamaru, it will be our last stop before Christchurch. We stop there for lunch and walk around the cit, it is a very historical little town, with many limestone buildings, it was very prosperous in the 19th and could have been the capital...funny to see little streets and stone buildings as we have seen so few on them, most of the architecture in the country is made of wood, even the old government buildings in Auckland! We visit a whisky cellar, we see some arts galleries, then make our way to CC, a long drive, the last one as we are giving back our Pepe, our campervan tomorrow morning! We find a campsite in Christchurch, no free camping here! The eve is spent writing, washing our clothes and getting ready...one more day and we are off to Australia...