Sunday 31st July - Goodbye Omarau - Hello Te Anau!

Sadly it is time to leave Omarau – we have all enjoyed being in one place for a few days and it has given us time to catch up on journals, laundry and not be in the car! Unfortunately we have a massive drive ahead of us to Lake Te Anau where we will use as a base for our trip to Milford Sound.  We stop off at the Moeraki Boulders. A number of huge speherical stones found strewn along a stretch of beach. 

    

They have been exposed due to shoreline erosion from the cliffs that back the beach and were originally formed in ancient sea floor sediments some 60 million years ago. They weigh several tonnes and are up to 3 metres in diameter.

     

The girls collect shells on the beach  and forget their differences briefly– It is a long drive and a very long day and the girls cope well although cracks are starting to form and the atmosphere is strained amongst us at times.

We are covering such huge distances and spending a very long time in the car tramping across the beautiful countryside. We are realising that maybe trying to cover the whole of NZ was slightly over ambitious. Todays drive is 402 km and takes 5 hours.  Another "car picnic"  is needed and more driving to be done before reaching Te Anau and the Lakefront Backpackers. This has probably the best  kitchen we have had so far in NZ!