Boy what a night at Monkey Island, a really strong South West wind whipping straight off the sea at the caravan. It was so bad it kept blowing out the gas on the fridge so we had to pull the legs up and turn the caravan so the fridge vents were on the side away from the wind. Not only that but the wind shook the satellite dish so much we kept losing the picture – the solution to put the dish inside a wind shelter we found on the side of the road at Clyde.
That Did the Trick !
We started the day (now quite calm) with a walk out to Monkey Island as it was low tide when we got up, a small climb to the top to say we had been there!
View from The Top Monkey Island
Just a short distance down the road was the Clifden Suspension Bridge. Spanning 111.5 metres above the Waiau River it remains as a memorial to those involved in it’s construction from 1896-1899. It claimed fame as having the longest span of any suspension bridge in New Zealand.
One of the local residents was there to greet us, a very friendly and obviously well fed KuniKuni pig.
Oink !
Just 100k to Manapouri where we wanted to book the Doubtful Sound cruise for tomorrow, a little expensive but this was one of our “must do” trips. A one hour boat ride across Lake Manapouri, a 45 min bus ride across Wilmotts pass to Doubtful Sound, a three hour cruise in the sounds and then back to Manapouri via the Power Station where we descend down into the bowels of the earth.
In the afternoon after booking into a very nice motor caravan park at Manapouri, we drove to Te Anau for a look around.
Just at the beginning of the town is a statue to Quintin Mackinnon - surveyor, explorer, guide. Mackinnon and Ernest Mitchell were the first europeans to travel overland from Te Anau to Milford in 1888. This became the world famous Milford Track.
Quintin Mackinnon 1851 - 1892
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