Milford Bound.

Windy in Milford.

Leaving Queenstown and looking for something a bit more relaxing, we headed for Milford Sound. There is a famous walk here called the Milford Track. It is booked months in advance, but is supposed to be beautiful. To get to Milford Sound, you must pass through the small town of Te Anau. We stayed here for a couple of nights. We tried to camp one night, but the ravenous sandflies forced us back to town. There were thousands of sandflies trying to bore holes into us constantly. We set up our tent while being eaten alive. As soon as the tent was ready, they came inside with us. We clambered inside as fast as possible and spent the next half hour pressing the little annoying bugs against the inside of the tent until they squished. Their death would give us mild pleasure, but outside thousands more waited for us to open the zipper.

INTO a Miford waterfall.

This made us miserable, so we went back to town and complained about the great fishing we were probably missing. Eventually making it to Milford we booked an hour and a half cruise. It rains a lot in this area. It makes for hundreds of amazing waterfalls, but not a lot of outdoor activities. We spent just one night in Milford Sound then returned to Queenstown.

A small waterfall in Milford Sound.

We are camping on a tiny piece of grass at a hostel in Queenstown. Little did we know that we are the only straight people staying at the Hippo Lodge. They forgot to mention that in the Lonely Planet!