Camping just outside Queenstown we were only 60 km from Milford Sound but not being crows we had to follow the road, 300 km. We topped up the gas bottle before we left Queenstown, not knowing how much was left in it we had no desire to run out, especially miles from anywhere. Then the drive south alongside Lake Wakatipu, on to Mossburn where there was the cheapest petrol we have seen in the whole of New Zealand and across to Te Anau, where we could start heading back north.

Looking south from our camp at Queenstown you can see the craggy ridges with which South Island abounds.

Camping at Deer Flat, to our west was Fiordland, a really  vast remote area 200km north to south and about 80km across, accessible by boat or on foot with only one road penetrating into the middle of it. We camped here before driving the final 60km over the pass and down to Milton Sound.

From Deer Flat campsite looking toward the peaks of Fiordland

The drive down to Milton Sound was very reminiscent of driving down Glencoe in Scotland except that it is narrower and the hills are twice the height.

Mitre Peak Milford Sound.

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