Dunedin to Te Anau

We awoke today to clear blue skies and warm weather. We saw 32C on the thermometer on the car at some point. I'm sure that was slightly high, but it was up in the high 20s. Driving here definitely takes longer than expected. Even the main roads are narrow, and there are enough trucks and camper vans to slow you down. But, the scenery is fantastic, so it's worth driving slower.

We checked out of Dunedin about 8:30, and couldn't leave town without a stop at Cadbury World to stock up on chocolate and have a morning coffee and caramel bar. From there we decided a hike was in order to burn off some of the sugar, so we stopped at Taieri Mouth for a 5k hilly walk along the river gorge, and lunch by the river.

Another couple of hours put us in Te Anau, the last real town before the drive to Milford Sound. It is very touristy and busy, and I'm happy we didn't choose to stay there, but we needed groceries and wanted to stop at the DOC (Department of Conservation). Backtracking a bit to our cottage rental closer to Manapouri, and we were happy to see how quiet and secluded it is. We were greeted by Catherine in the driveway, who had just put some fresh muffins on the table for us. We settled in for a drink, followed by bbq dinner with a pretty good view from the garden table. OK, undoubtedly the best view we've ever had for dinner!

This part is for my sister, Catherine, who's favourite chocolate bar is the Cadbury Flake. At Cadbury World, we found the Flake, as well as the Flake Luxury! Our expert tasting says stay with the regular Flake, although the Luxury would travel better as it's not very flaky. Sorry, we didn't save any for you :-)

We now hope the forecast improves for tomorrow. We've cancelled our bus & boat cruise to Milford as it was calling for rough seas and 70km/h winds. We'll drive there instead and then see how the water looks before committing to it. We are told that it is very sheltered, so it will likely be better there than here.