Campervan accomplishments: Five days, four nights, and dozens upon dozens of dead mosquitoes — and yet, we are still feeling at peace. During the night, Dave slipped down to the lower bunk to cool off and sometime during the night rejoined Kathy in the stop bunk as he was now too cold. He brought along several dozen mosquitoes that were attracted to our combined CO2 output. Closing the window with the broken screen, he got to work being Kathy’s hero and slaying the mosquitoes that hovered over our heads. Finally scouting the area and seeing no living “enemies”, the mighty warrior laid down his head and rested for the night.
Morning came soon enough. We took a walk in the camping area and enjoyed the cool morning breeze and the musical sounds of birds in the morning. Mornings while camping are truly one of the most magical times of the day. This morning found a little fog lying over the lake with the snow-capped mountains rising behind, adding to the majesty and peacefulness. Although, while on our little jaunt, both Kathy and Dave had to duck as two rather large birds flew right at them at head height! We then took a short drive up the road and walked a trail to Lake Mistletoe. While there, we came to a spot with over a dozen fantail birds who were very bold, flying to within a foot or so of us before veering off. Heading out, we decided our first stop was the grocery store to stock up on supplies. A nice walk around the area, lunch in the van, and then another walk. We rewarded ourselves for all of that walking with some tasty gelato!! Perfect segue into a walk along Rainbow Beach. There, we found a Lake-to-Lake trail that runs ~~ 20 kilometers. The hot afternoon sun was not conducive to a long 20K walk, but we did manage to get several miles in before turning back. A quick drive to scout out the area for future days and we headed back to our camping area at Hunter Creek in Fiordland National Park. This time, we got a spot along Lake Te Anau. Nice place to have dinner outside and then watching the sun set over a lake. The musical notes of the Tui bird and the squawking of the fantail birds added to the magic. Ah, ain’t life grand! (pictures to follow of sunset–soon)
