We took our time to get to the Milford Sounds since there was spectacular alpine scenery all along the way. Mirror lakes, valleys, snowy mountains and the Homer Tunnel. The tunnel had been once the longest gravel-surfaced tunnel in the world (since 2010 paved) with a gradient of 1 in 10.

At the parking bays at the tunnel curious Keas came by – mountain parrots. The sun was shining and we were eager to get on the boat for a better view of the fiords. The Milford Sounds is one of 14 fiords in the Fiordland National Park.

Mountains (e.g. Mitre Peak with 1692m) rising from deep fiords and waterfalls dropping 160m into this 16km long fiord formed a mind blowing landscape.

The next day we weren’t so lucky with the weather. Due to strong wind and heavy rain we had to turn around on our track to the key summit (3 hours return tour). The wind was so heavy that the rain purred in our faces and the summit track was in open field.

So we decided to turn around and find some shelter in the forest. We went to a hut which was beautifully set at a lake. Fallen trees made the route a bit tricky to get through. We got out of our completely soaked rain clothes and had a hot soup.

So we continued towards the Catlins. No more tramping in this weather.

Before we drove into Queenstown we decided to have a relaxed evening at a campground with powered site so we can charge our camera battery and our laptop. We also wanted to update our homepage since we had some reports in the pipeline.

In Wanaka at a beautiful lake we found the perfect campground. It is a little ski resort village and was quite busy. We also did tons of laundry and where ready for Queenstown and the Milford Sounds.

Close to Queenstown we found a great spot for freedom camping and we enjoyed the stunning view over the Lake Wakatipu. Crystal clear sky with millions of stars, uh it was really cold this night.

The next day we got ready for our little trip towards “Lord of the Ring” areas. So we drove to Glenorchy which was already a great vista. The snowy mountain caps reflected in the lake and with the clear blue water you could see straight to the ground.

After Glenorchy the street became a gravel road towards Paradise and suddenly it got very icy. Micha slowed down but three little dips in the straight road made the back part of our car jump and we lost traction.

Suddenly we were sideways to the road and Micha just thought, what will be the best way to park the car on the side of the street. Since it was quite a dip we dropped in a 60 degree angle and got stuck. Luckily nothing happened to us.

We were very lucky and after we found some help from 12 Malay people driving just behind us. I jumped in their car and after driving 5 minutes a big 4 wheel drive bus just passed us. We stopped it because I thought he might have a radio. And he surely had.

So I changed the car and funny wise his colleague already found Micha and Froggy, our campervan. He was there with a big tractor but we decided not to pull it out otherwise it might flip over.

They brought us to their company in Glenorchy and we could arrange everything. A towing truck came out 1 ½ hours later and with Micha it took another 1 ½ hours to get Froggy out. He brought us back to Jucy in Queenstown and what a luck that we had the stress free insurance.

So we got another campervan and we thought we have to treat ourselves after no one got hurt. Only a small side window and one plate crashed and there was a little dent in the frontbumper. Let’s have a steak and a beer. Well as it is, we met nice people and live music in the pub and Micha had some more drinks.