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SUB NOTE: HAVE ADDED PHOTOS. LOTS TO MAKE UP FOR THESE BEING THE LAST ONES. ENJOY! x

(This is a long one guys, you have been warned - New year, mad jumping, Milford and an epic walk all in one. I was going to mention that you would be rewarded your reading efforts by showing you lots of photos, but alas I've misplaced my USB wire after the last blog, so sadly there will be no more photos - which I'm actually quite sad about. I can still transfer photos to CD though with weird things known as chip readers, and will be doing so in a couple of days, so watch this space as I may be able to get some posted from CD...).

A jump, a bang and a whole new date!

Simon Wadsworth
2006-09-04 17:31:23

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humility of others. So don't worry, I won't dwell on the subject, but it was a pretty cool place...honestly it was.

I then hitched my way sound, 250km to Te Anau, gateway to Milford Sound and some of the best walks in the world, including the Milford, Kepler and Routeburn. Milford is probably the most popular walk in the world - much to my disappointment when trying to book in October and discovering it was already fully booked to the end of March! Well, there goes that dream for this trip.

Next time (a phrase, like most travellers, I'm growing used to saying). Hitching was slow for the first hour, until a cyclist kindly mentioned I was standing on the wrong road out of town, which will explain the laughter I was getting from some of the vehicles; an easy mistake to make I assured my red-cheeked self, when both roads out of town head in roughly the same direction (la la la). But switching roads, I got a lift within 30 minutes - so getting in a car with three cool peeps, Led Zeppelin blaring out the car stereo, we drove through the beautiful terrain to Te Anau.

After some mental to-ing and fro-ing, I decided to book myself onto one of the day tours to Milford Sound, and amazingly pleased I did; the natural world at its best, not just at Milford but for the 100km road trip there too, one of the most scenic road trips I've ever been on. The coach was unique too, by having a see-through roof, commentary (which was shouting out more names than even my resolution can remember), and no Japanese tourists on board. After driving through glacial terrain, bush rainforest, mountain
valleys etc, we boarded a ferry, the only way to see Milford Sound really. Supposedly the ferry was quite busy, but I wouldn't know as I found a spot up top at the front and just stubbornly sat there for the entire 2-hour trip out to Tasman Sea and back in. It really is awe-inspiring (yeh, I've found an adjective I haven't used ...