2021 SI Road Trip Day 3

Te Anau to Milford and Lumsden...

The group split into three subgroups today.  The first group was the Te Anau stayers who did some walks about the Te Anau area.  The second group were the Milford cruising group.  The third group (which I was in) took our time to get into Milford Sound, doing some of the walks along the way.

My daughter and I headed out for an early shop to buy some lunch for the trip in, in case we happened to be on the Key Summit near the Routeburn Track at lunchtime.  Of course, we then had to go out for breakfast together as a special treat.  She ordered the Waffles with Chocolate and salted caramel sauce (or something equally disgusting) whereas, I was a little more sensible with eggs, spinach and mushrooms (which is my standard fare at Level 4).  Lovely view of Lake Te Anau with a bit of early morning steam.

We sorted ourselves into relevant cars and headed off the day's adventure which had three Teslas in convey at a leisurely pace - enjoying the marvellous scenery on the way in.

Once arriving in Milford Sound itself, the weather was a little dreary and the view of Mitre Peak as somewhat muted.  To add a little insult to injury the sandflys were biting.  We decided that the $25 parking fee each was a little over the top for three vehicles only wanting to buy a coffee and move on, so we followed the instructions and left the carpark "immediately" and travelled back up to the Gertrude Saddle for our lunch.  David and Rachael of course had their in-car refrigerator and therefore their sandwiches were slightly fresher than the rest of ours.  Luckily the local kea were more interested in the cones.

On arrival back into Te Anau we topped our vehicles up (15 minutes for me and a little longer for David's) since our two vehicles were off the Lumsden to split the overnight charging load.  So, four of us are at the Royal Mail Hotel (All That's Tesla Podcast link) using their one-year-old Tesla Destination Chargers for the FIRST TIME!  Such a cool place and I am sure that they will become more popular in time.