The dawn view from our rental house in Te Anau

Gorgeous!

Day 9 Mavora Lake

We drove about 40km up a gravel road to see this lakes area north of Te Anau.

Te Anau

This is the view from our rental house on the lake in Te Anau, Rainbow Lake House. It is for sale for a cool NZ$1.4 million.

Day 8 Goodbye beautiful Queenstown

This morning we day goodbye to Queenstown as we make our way to Te Anau for three nights. We are driving south along Lake Wakitipu around the Eyre Mountains. The sun is shining and it is 20C outside. Bliss!

Day 7 Queenstown

I have no photos at the moment because I didn’t have my phone with me all day.

We drove into town 11ish for some culture. We watched a young Canadian woman named Miranda do a street show for 45 minutes. She didn’t actually do much in that 45 minutes but it kept us entertained. The kids laughed and laughed. After that we attempted to have lunch at a gastropub which wasn’t open when we tried. We ended up at theIrish place on the waterfront, Pog Mahones. Tom and I had a seafood platter with a couple of Guinesses. The kids shared a fish and chips plate.

After lunch Sofia and I walked over to the Kiwi Birdlife Centre and Tom took Alex to have adventures. The bird centre was interesting but overpriced for what was there. It was $42 for me and $21 for Sofia. Granted this is in NZ$ but ouch. After about 45 minutes of looking at Kiwis, parrots, tuataras, Keas and so on we waited for the conservation show to start. Some of the animals weren’t cooperating but it was still fun to see some of the animals up close.

Tom and Alex had a wander around town, had an ice cream and then drove over to get us.

The weather deteriorated so we headed over to a shopping area. Sofia got her ice cream and they picked up sushi for dinner. I had a quick look in Wild South and bought a couple of tunics. From here it was back to the house for the night.

Tomorrow we drive over to Te Anau for three nights. I will miss Queenstown. I am pretty sure I could live here. What a fantastic place!

Day 6 Arrowtown and Queenstown

Blustery winds today. It isn’t meant to rain until late afternoon/evening so we are seizing the day. Lunch at The Fork and Tap in Arrowtown now. We plan to look around the Chinese settlement and browse through shops before going back to Queenstown. We would like to take the gondola and let the kids do the luge but it may be too windy. Sofia also wants to go to the Kiwi Birdlife Centre.

Rees Valley

We only made it out towards Glenorchy today. We stopped there for coffee then drove around to Kinloch where we climbed the treehouse, threw rocks into the lake and river and played on the beach. We picked up a couple of British blokes needing a ride. They had just finished the Routeburn and Greenstone Tracks and had a long, long trek back to their car at the head of the Routeburn Track. We drove them all the way to their car. After a toilet break we drove out on an out-of-the-way road up the Rees Valley which turned out to be spectacular. We then walked quite a distance on the Rees/Dart Track. Not another soul in sight. Bliss.

It is now 5pm and we are headed back to our house to eat dinner. More adventures tomorrow.

Day 5 Glenorchy, Arrowtown, Queenstown

Above photo is on the road to Glenorchy from Queenstown.

Today we plan to see Glenorchy, Arrowtown and then some things around Queenstown. We actually had a minute of sunshine, the first we have had since we landed here. It is sprinkling rain. I can live with that.

We went shopping last night at New World. Instead of spending so much money on going out for meals we can cook some at the house.

Queenstown

View from our rental house in Queenstown. We are staying here 4 nights. It is raining.

Haast Area

Haast area. Cozy lunch by the fire (not really that cold). Gates of Haast bridge. Still raining lightly as we approach Lake Hawea. It poured some torrential rain for ages on the way. Over the rain.