We did not sleep much last night at Monkey Island. The wind increased in intensity and we woke around 3 am to the motor home rocking and rolling, and while it was not as bad as at Wellington, it was enough to stop us sleeping. Eventually, I got up and made us a cuppa and we decided to have an early start to our day. Bruce was concerned that the wind was set to become even stronger as the day progressed, but it was forecast to be less of a problem inland, so he believed we would be better off travelling on.
After taking the dogs for a walk on the beach we headed on the road towards Manapouri and Te Anau. The road was a bit blustery at times but overall, not as bad as we had expected.
Our first stop was at the suspension bridge at Clifden, which is one of the oldest remaining bridges in NZ. It is not used for traffic anymore, but is maintained as a walking bridge. There is a lot of freedom camping around here and almost all of them were still in bed when we arrived!
I was anxious to keep going and there were no more stops until we reached the shores of Lake Manapouri. Here we stopped for a coffee and a short walk before continuing on to Lake Te Anau.
Bruce and I really wanted to visit Milford Sound but we knew that this was going to be a challenge with 2 dogs on board. Therefore we made it a priority to visit the DOC office to try and get a permit to take dogs there in the motor home. However, there was no way this was going to be issued to us, so we next had to look at dog minding options.
This proved to be a challenge as well. One kennel had closed down, one pet friendly motel did not do doggy daycare (we had been told this was possible), so our final option was another lady advertising as Hillview Kennels. This sounded really promising as she was located in town so it would mean only a 24 hour stay for the dogs, so we booked them in and then went and purchased our tickets.
We pottered around Te Anau, and established ourselves at the NZMCA park, before taking the dogs to the kennels at 6pm. However, the place was really not what we expected and the potential for the dogs, particularly Oscar, to escape was quite high, and I really didn’t feel happy about it.
We were rescued by fellow motor homers Graeme and Di Morris, who have a Frankia motorhome (one of the Dethleffs family) who kindly agreed to mind the dogs for us the next day. That meant they could stay in their own familiar environment, and I knew they would be well cared for and we could do our trip without worrying.
Te Anau has some lovely lakeside walks, and great facilities for tourists. We enjoyed coffees and two different cafes while we were here, and went to the movies to see a film make by some locals on the Milford area. It was extremely well done.
Away From Home NZ 