(Picture : the view from Key Summit over the start of the Routeburn Track) As I was feeling a bit travelled out before Milford I had to do something to perk me up. One of the girls on the boat was tiny and from Chicago. She had just done the Milford Track, joined the overnight cruise and was walking back via the Routeburn so I decided that despite my Mount Aspiring mission I needed some exercise so I eventually talked myself into heading up the short Key Summit walk from the Great Divide on the Milford Road – the very start of the Routeburn Track (albeit a tiny wee miniscule 60 minute section!). Great views were had and it was off to Te Anau to see the film they show of the Milford Sound in the Fjordland Cinema. I had to hang around for a couple of hours which made me decide to hang out in the area that night.
(Picture : A view from the Key Summit track) The film was superb, all shot in Fjordland from helicopter flyovers featuring all kinds of cinematography of wildlife, nature and even a sequence with climbers in it. Despite being amazing I still managed to have a couple of short kips during the 30 minute film!
(Picture : Room with a view – DOC Campsite) In an attempt to perk back up into travelling mode I opted to stay in a Deptartment of Conservation simple (i.e. unserviced) campsite by the lochside, 23km out of town. Superb. Simple camping by the lochside with the waves lapping up the shore just several feet short of the tent. There was no-one else around until another couple parked up a couple of hundred feet from me after darkness fell.
(Picture : My morning view through the flysheet) I was a bit perturbed to find a stick formation in the rocky beach in the morning – I hadn’t noticed it the night before. There was a stick pointing towards my campsite…. had the Blair Witch made an appearance during the night? I sure as hell didn’t hear anything in my epic 12 hour sleep the night before. Bliss. The joy of earplugs.
(Picture : Blair Witch?)