Day 36

It was still raining all night as I woke up and actually saw that it was snow falling on the car! Very cold and wet night we had… It was an expedition to go to the dry toilets and few people in the campsite had their car battery flat. We helped to jump start a van and had some sandwiches in the car. Too cold to go outside as it was around 2*C! We did slept in again and as the weather wasn’t getting any better, we abandoned the idea to do the 3h return walk to Marian Lake. Such a shame but we didn’t wanted to be stuck by the snow! As we drove back, the weather was clearing up a little and we could see some fresh snow on mountains around us. Apparently people were stopped on the way up to check if they had snow chains. Good decision we didn’t keep going further to the tunnel (even if we discovered we could get cheap fuel at Milford Sound yesterday!) Stopping at Mirror Lakes like plenty of big buses, we saw a little bit more the snowy tops. This time we also made a stop at Te Anau Downs Historic Site and went in a small cosy hut from the 18th century.

Back in Te Anau, we brought a drink, put our garbage and recycling away, filled up our bottle, and went back in the birdlife centre. Then we started to head down south. On our way to Manapouri, we briefly stopped at rainbow reach car park to walk on the bridge which was a starting point for the Kelper track. On the road we spotted little patches of the Fiordland National Park which was still hidden by foggy clouds. At Manapouri, we couldn’t find any info centre, and Jack quickly jumped out to help some enviro workers, so we went to have lunch near the hall/library. A guy riding passed offered us to go on his boat to cross the lake and reach all the tracks on the other side. Drove back to the beach and did a short walk along the edge of the Lake. Fuelled up Sue then got some ice-cream from the store – Jack got two really big scoops ! Heading on south we stopped at Rakatu Wetlands. We got a good two hour walk and some wet feet while wandering the peaceful reserve all to ourselves. There wasn’t much rain either. Leaving we tried to heard two lambs back into their paddock, which nearly succeeded.

30 minutes down the road was the Borland Nature Walk. A short loop through a Silver Beech forest that provided some interesting facts about the 800 year life spanned trees. Also contained a very bouncy swing bridge full of water. Driving back on the dirt road between electric lines , we headed to the  Lake Monowai. The weather seemed to clear up a bit and lots of campervans and tents were set up around. No sign mentioned that we couldn’t camp but we went to ask the noisy French group camping near the walk. Apparently, Campermate showed that it was free of charge on that side of the parking. Surprised, we drove there and went to see the lake, 30 minute walk away. It was a peaceful walk under trees, sadly the clouds were still covering the mountains when we reached the lake. Pasta for dinner, not many sand-flies thankfully, and we went to bad after Jack carved some cardboard (but the rain was dripping unevenly on the car because of the trees).

Entree Written By Marianne