Milford Sounds

Next stop was Te Anua, a small town situated between Milford and Doubtful Sounds, just in case we decided to do both.

It was cold but nice and sunny on arrival so we booked our Milford Sound trip with confidence, pleased that we didn't have to pay extra to take the coach as we were going to drive ourselves along the scenic route.

A nice campervan site was found along with spa and we settled down for the night.

Next morning we woke to lots of rain and fog, nice. We were chatting to a guy in the kitchen who informed us that the weather prediction wasn't great, snow was expected and all vehicles going to Milford had to carry snow chains... He smugly told us that he had booked the coach as he didn't want to worry about driving in possibly treacherous condictions.

What to do?

We found out that you could rent snow chains from the garage so we had 2 options: 1. rent the chains and risk taking the van along the twisty mountain road. 2. Book the coach and sit back and relax and let their driver worry about everything.

Obviously we choose option 1 as it worked out $50 cheaper and we thought it might be fun to drive in snow chains!!! The nice lady at the petrol station should us how to fit them and we were off. It's a 2.5 hour drive but as we were running a bit late I had to put my foot down a little (obviously never going over the speed limit) and we did it 1.5 hours! It's a nice drive and luckily the snow as no where to be seen.

Unfortunately, the fog was still around when we got to Milford and so the boat trip wasn't all that it could have been. The waterfalls were good due to the amount of rain we had had but the overall view was somewhat diminished.

A good trip none the less and the underwater viewing room was good.

A slow drive back and a spa to warm us up!

Next stop Dunedin