Milford Sound...NOT

Yesterday, during and after the Doubtful Sound trip, I was wishing that I hadn't booked the Milford Sound trip, and spent that money. I don't need to see two sounds. But it was too late to do anything about it.

So, up at 6:30, showered, had breakfast and waited for my bus for Milford Sound. And I waited and waited and waited and waited, but nothing came. About 8:15, I called the company and told them, and they asked me my name, I said Courtnage (the name that was on my ticket) and she said, "Oh, we've been trying to get a hold of you all day yesterday, but the hostel didn't know who you were. The road is closed to Milford, so it's cancelled." She asked me if I'd like to rebook it, and I said I couldn't, I was leaving tomorrow, so she told me to go back to the booking centre I bought it from, and they'd refund my money. YAY!!! As for the name dilemma, the trip company only had my last name, the hostel only knew my first name, so they didn't know who "courtnage" was. So, ends up I'm not spending the money after all!

So, about 9:00, headed into Te Anau and got my $135 refund (took all the cash they had! Hahaha!), then drove to Rainbow Reach just south of the hostel, one of the entry/exit points of the Keplar Track, one of NZ's nine "Great Walks". The Keplar Track is 67km long, a 3-4 day tramp, but I just walked a short part of it, from Rainbow Reach to Moturau Hut, then continued past the hut for perhaps another 30 minutes. Then turned around and walked back. Walked for about 5 hours in total, 9:30-2:30.

The DOC has back-country huts setup all over NZ for trampers (Kiwi for hikers) to spend overnights on many of the multi-day tramps across NZ. The huts consist of bunk beds, gas stoves, kitchens, etc. It's quite a grand idea, but of course, in summer, many of the huts in the most popular tramps are booked solid. The hut I visited had no one in it, and had perhaps 50 bunk beds in total, a huge kitchen area with lots of sinks, flushing toilets, the works.

After that, drove back to Te Anau, used internet for a while, filled up with petrol for tomorrow's trip, bcak the hostel, had supper, then figured out my game plan for tomorrow, then just vegged, chatted with other folk, etc.

To bed about 10:30 (only to be awaken by a "nightmare" shortly after midnight! See my special next journal entry for details!)