Milford Sound and 300 Tons
The longest drive we did was the 11 hours from Franz Josef to just north of Te Anau. The drive had incredible views of the snow capped mountains, stunning blue creeks and bright colorful wild flowers. Our adventure consisted of two vehicles, awesome pistachio camper van, Hugo owned by Nickie our mate we met in Australia, and our beloved ancient Ace Rental car, Bluebird. I bounced between the two throughout our journey. It was a delight to have hours of girl chats with Nickie. We had stunning views and random stops to capture our perfect photo along the way.
Our first camper van experience lead us to Lake Gunn where I was quickly introduced the dreaded South Island sand flies. Wow those buggers are ruthless. After a few drinks and amazing sunset views the three of us piled into the van for a good nights sleep. In the morning we made a proper breakfast of coffee, bacon and eggs.
The next day we did our final push to Milford Sound in hopes of getting on a boat tour. After a few days of rain we wanted to take advantage of our sunny blue skies. Luck was on our side when we arrived 15 minutes for the next tour with Go Orange. We were greeted by our skipper, Denis, with one n, the all time biggest flirt. Denis had eyes for Nickie which worked in my favor when us ladies got invited to the cabin for a personal instruction on how to drive the 300 ton boat! Pretty simple task of moving the little joy stick 2 clicks and wait 30 seconds for the huge boat to move. Of course we were born naturals!
That boat ride has definitely been a highlight of the trip. The tour took us from Milford Sound to the Tasman Sea and back. We saw snow peaks, water falls, penguins and seals during the journey.
The boat was large enough to hold 300+ people but that day there was only 15 passages which allowed us the freedom to roam the entire boat. I highly recommend Go Orange tours!
