This morning we were so thoroughly fed up with the sand flies surrounding us that we decided to pack up and drive further along the road, away from the Lake, and have breakfast somewhere else! We drove for a few kms and found a roadside shelter with toilets, so we stopped there. The shelter is used by serious hikers, or 'trampers' before and after their very very long walks! We make do with the 30/45 minute round trip walks only! After breakfast, we drove a litt...

This mornign we continued our drive along the Milford Road, towards Milford Sound. Our first stop for the day was at Mistletoe Lake. We did a 45 minute walk around the lake, but it was freezing and we must have been hurrying because we were back at the van in 20 minutes! I liked the name but the lake was....just a lake! A bit further on, we had alook at Mirror Lakes, which were small pools that reflected the mountains behind them perfectly on a clear day. Unfort...

After packing up and eating breakfast surrounded by bloody sand flies, we drove towards Te Anau, which is the last place to stock up on food and petrol before heading to Milford Sound. There are no shops or petrol stations on the Milford Road so it is essential that you have a full tank of petrol when leaving Te Anau - they must have some very happy petrol garage owners! We made a quick stop in Manapouri to walk down to the lake, the scond deepest in NZ. Then we...

Today it was time to leave Invercargill, after 4 nights! We drove into town to stock up on groceries, petrol, and to use the internet in the I-Site before hitting the road towards Fiordland National Park. As we still have over 5 weeks left in NZ, we decided to take our time, and headed towards a campsite about 100km away. We made a few stops along the way - a fishing village called Cosy Nook, and a beach where you can dig for gemstones! We didn't find any gems, ...

Today was a pretty quiet day until our showdown with Scotland in the rugby in the evening! After another lie-in, we drove to a boutique chocolate makers in town called The Seriously Good Chocolate Company, where we paid $6 for only 4 chocolates, but they were good! We weren't in town long before we went back to the site for the rest of the day. We lounged about reading and watching telly until tea-time. Then we headed over to the Cabbage Tree, a restaurant on th...