We attempted to wake up early for low tide so that we could visit the Cathedral Caves at the opportune time. At the car park, we paid the $10 fee and walked through the woods down to the windy beach. The sea was active that morning so even though it was low tide, the waves still flowed into the caves high up on the beach. There were two huge entrances to the caves that were connected by a U-shaped tunnel. It was pretty neat. We stuck around for awhile taking pictures and then left to get back on the road and head north.
We decided to go up to the Milford Sound in Fiordland and go on a cruise. We made a quick stop in Te Anau and filled up on fuel because it was the last station before going to the sound, which is a dead end. The stretch of road going to it was gorgeous. The rivers and trees and the MOUNTAINS were something else. (Still can't beat Alaska though). We stopped at the Mirror Lakes which was really pretty and also passed The Divide where our Routeburn hike ended. The mountainous valleys we were driving through had an incredible amount of lengthy waterfalls from the abundance of rain in the area, which intensified the beauty of the area and no picture could do it justice. At one point, the road went in a tunnel through a mountain that was just over a kilometer long.
Finally, we made it to the one and only holiday park in the area. We went inside, tired and very much ready to call it a day. But the lodge/park was completely booked up, all the way until May in fact. The closest option for a campsite was about an hour back on the road we just came from. So sadly, we had to drive through beautiful Fiordland, again... The trouble was that it took us just under a half a tank of gas to make it to the Sound from Te Anau. If we drove to the campsite, and then back to the Sound in the morning for our 9:00am cruise, AND then back to Te Anau afterwards (where the gas stations were), we would most likely run out of gas before we got there. So in our responsible plan to avoid that, we drove all the way back for gas, about 1.5 hours back, so we'd have enough for the following day. We filled up and drove to the campsite 45 minutes back in that same direction. It was just getting dark so we made camp and went to sleep.
(On our way through the tunnel a second time, a very friendly Kea bird hopped on our car's roof. As we heard it walking around above us, we were curious what it might be up to. Suddenly, Ryan pointed right behind me and started laughing hysterically as the Kea's head appeared upside down directly behind me, outside the car's window. Ryan was adamant this would have made quite the funny picture).
(Kea are only friendly because people feed them and so they know they can beg for food. Kea are big green birds with pretty orange coloring underneath their wings, similar to a parrot).
