but as soon as we rounded the tip of lake on the twisty and curvy lakeside road, the wind picked up and didn't let up - don't want to even guess what our gas mileage was on that leg of the trip. We drove past fields of sheep, cows, sheep, deer (yes, deer), sheep, sheep and more sheep.
The landscape was absolutely beautiful and so green you just want to hug it. In Te Anau we fueled up (it has the last petrol station for hundreds of km) and got the local scoop on weather and road conditions from the visitor's center. Rain expected, avalanche forecast = low (OK, we didn't even know that could be an issue), and the road was Open (again, didn't realize that could be an issue). Chains are technically required on all vehicles through the end of November (again, didn't know that), but on this day, they weren't required, so we drove on. The worst that could happen is that we're stuck there for a couple of days, right? Fully stocked and provisioned, we took to the Milford Road. It started out tame enough, cruising through fields and scientific research areas (don't really know what they are, but they are everywhere in this area). Noticeably there were few cars and no buildings of any kind. We drove on. As the road began to follow a river there were DOC (Dept of Conservation) campsites every dozen or so km.
As we noticed the dark clouds pouring in over the giant mountains ahead, Kathy happened to read in our guide books that it is not recommended, I repeat not recommended for campervans to try and navigate this road. We drove on. The wind began and the clouds came in thick and dark. Our goal was the reach the farthest DOC campsite to make our next morning drive a little easier. Friends from Auckland warned us to ensure that there were other people camping where we were because there had been some "incidents" recently. We finally made it to the Lake Gunn campsite only to find it a single campsite with no one else around, save a few clouds.
We decided to park there and see if anyone else showed up. Soon another car arrived and we tried to talk them into staying. They were uncertain. We decided to take a tramp around the lake, so we crossed the feeder creek and took off into the woods, following a stoat (weasel) trapping trail. We went until the trail became too laborious (climbing over trees, rocks and just trying to keep track of the trail). When we arrived back at camp, we were surprised and thankful that 3 additional cars had arrived and a thinning of the clouds.
We quickly readjusted our parking and took a place on the lake shore.
For the next 2 hours, campervan after campervan arrived looking for a place to park....the Inn was full. In a place where we thought there was room for 1 vehicle, 7 or 8 stayed. We had a lovely evening overlooking the lake, watching the resident freshwater eel
and savoring a wonderful dinner. (At one point we had to buy T-Bone steak, because the lamb was too expensive...sheesh!)
No comments:
Post a Comment