Retirement Trip .....Cut short part 5

Queenstown - we had arranged to be at the camper depot mid-morning and we handed it over and were told to go shopping for a bit and get some lunch, they would pay up to an amount.  The shopping centre was about a 10 minute walk away so we headed off.

I decided whilst there I would get some cash out.  Put my card in the machine, followed the usual instructions and then it finished - no cash.  Immediately my phone buzzed with a notification that I had just taken NZD200 out of my account.  Errr no.  Luckily for me the cash machine I had used was outside a small bank branch, so I went in and explained my problem.  "Oh ok, we will have to close the branch" says she.  I had a small wait whilst the customers in branch finished their transactions, a member of staff prevented anyone coming in and I was asked to wait outside whilst they opened up the cash machine inside.  Ten minutes and a bit of paperwork later I was reunited with my dollars.  I really can't imagine this happening in the UK, at least not on the same day.

As it was too early for lunch we decided just to pick up a coffee and sandwich and cake each for later.  We then got a call to say all the problems had been sorted on the van and we could collect it. In hind sight we should have questioned what they had done to the fridge, but at that point it smelled fine.

We headed into Queenstown itself, found a campsite for the night and then spent the day wandering around the harbour and gardens. Queenstown is a very busy place, lots of water sports and boat trips, great if you like that sort of thing.  I personally found it a bit overwhelming to suddenly be with so many people and glad that we only planned to stay one night.  We ended up in a Thai restaurant for dinner as everywhere was heaving.

Saturday - we left Queenstown and headed towards Milford Sound.  Unfortunately due to severe flooding earlier in the month they were only allowing escorted coach trips in all the way to the sound, but you could drive around three quarters of the way along the scenic route.  Which is what we chose to do. - Fiordland National Park

 Mirror Lake

Pops View - this is as far into the park as they would let you self drive.  We were happy with what we saw, though of course sad to miss seeing the Sound itself.  We reversed our journey and camped overnight in Anau, where we enjoyed a good dinner overlooking the lake front.  So many of the small towns on the South Island have lake frontage, such a joy.

Anau

Hope you aren't getting too bored with all our photos.  There is still a lot more to see as this was just our first full week here in New Zealand!