Te Anau

Te Anau is known as the “gateway to the fiords” due to its proximity to the more famous Milford Sound and Doubtful Sound. In Maori, it means “cave of swirling water,” a reference to the underground waterways that flow beneath the town.

On the subject of water, we discovered that the water from the funky campsite we stayed at in Queenstown was also funky. It had so much chlorine in it that you could use it to bleach your clothes. Of course, we only found out after filling the van’s tank (lesson learned). So, we had to dump the lot at Tasman Holiday Park and refill it.

The campsite was ideally located for a scenic stroll around town and for the shops where we bought more warm clothes, this time to cover our hands. Merino gloves are brilliant.

Lake Te Anu with seaplanes bobbing about on the lake

Milford Sound

As nice as Te Anau is, we only used it as a base to travel to Milford Sound. And the best way to get there is by tour bus. If we were to have driven, only one person would have had the sightseeing experience. Here, eyes need to be fixed firmly on the road ahead.

At 0800 on 5th April, Tania from Fiordland Tours picked us up from the campsite. She is New Zealand’s equivalent of the Australian comedian Kitty Flannagan. She kept us informed and entertained the whole trip.

Our first stop was Mirror Lakes, almost halfway to Milford Sound.

Mirror Lakes

And then to Pop’s View, or Hollyford Valley Lookout,  for coffee.

Munch time

By late morning, we arrived at the Milford Sound ferry terminal in plenty of time to board our boat for a sightseeing cruise, Not bad considering Te Anau is around 120 kilometers away.

Our boat

Waterfall

More waterfall

And seals basking on a rock

An abundance of waterfalls

Milford Sound is truly beautiful, but what could be more beautiful than Maria and Tania’s display of perfect coordination:

Poetry in motion.

We stopped at Monkey Creek on the drive back, hoping to spot a Kea – a native New Zealand alpine parrot. Nothing seen.

Monkey Creek

And then we travelled on to Christie Falls

Christie Falls

Christie Falls too

After that, we went on a short hike up to Marian Creek to see this:

Marian Creek

Our penultimate stop was the Mararoa Weir Lookout. The Mararoa Weir regulates the water level of Lake Manapouri for hydroelectric power generation.

Mararoa Weir

And that was it. It was lovely. And now it’s time to move on to Invercargill – an unexpectedly interesting place.