Where to today? Let’s go to Te Anau and then along the Milford Rd. Well the venison pie at Te Anau was seriously good and T retraced steps to the little Anglican church ‘St Michael and All the Angels’ where she had wondered about sleeping on the porch 46 years ago…but, as happened, she slept on the floor below a bunk in the very full YHA next door. And the porch no longer exists – replaced by a ramp for the mobility challenged: how appropriate!

After the pie treat, T took the wheel and it was time for D to be scared. The road to Milford is a gem, mountains, lakes, beech forests.

A short, quiet walk at Mistletoe Lake (first picture above) through one of those beech forests and then a stop at Mirror Lakes (second picture above) to watch ducks squabbling and two big trout patrolling…then camp was pitched at Cascade Creek beside the stream (with two squabbling trout!) at about two thirds of the way to Milford Sound. It’s the last of the Dept of Conservation campsites (cheap & basic) before Milford. Scavenged firewood and a fire place complete the idyll. We make enough smoke to keep the sandflies down, but the potatoes cooked in the coals are a fantastic complement to the Porterhouse steaks and tomatoes, all washed down with NZ red wines. Does it get any better?

And D wasn’t scared by T driving. But no internet at Cascade Creek, so this posted back at Te Anau.