We had a fantastic drive down to Te Anau, the first half of it was alongside lake Wakatipu, the third largest lake in NZ. The scenery is majestic, and the weather was perfect to show the lake of at its best.
We also stopped at a major bungee jumping spot just outside of Queenstown, supposedly the bungee jump capital of NZ. It was good fun watching a couple of people putting themselves through the trauma, and then achieving maybe something off their bucket list. At £150 a pop it is pretty expensive for a 2 minute thrill.
Got down to Te Anau, and it’s got a really good vibe, nice and quiet, good selection of shops and restaurants and bars, so looking forward to our few days here. Our accommodation is also spot on, nice spacious cottage with all the facilities we need and a great outdoor space.
Day 1 in Te Anau we went for another lovely walk through forest alongside Lake Te Anau. It was about an hour and a half to a place called Brod bay, which was a lovely lakeside beach, stopped there for a bit of sunbathing, and then headed back, stopping at another lake beach called Dock bay. Lots of speedboats here and families enjoying a Sunday afternoon in the sun, and doing waterskiing and other water activities on their boats. We enjoyed a lovely swim in beautiful, crisp lake water. It was a really lovely day, finished off with a couple of beers in the town.
Day 2 in Te Anau and we went on our pre booked tour and cruise to Doubtful Sound. There are a number of different Sounds across the vast fiordlands of this area of the South island, one of the biggest national parks in the world. The name ‘Sound’ is simply another name for desribing a fiord.
Probably the most well known is Milford Sound, but Doubtful is larger and less travelled. Whatever one you choose it is a fantastic experience with scenery like nowhere else in the world that we’ve been to so far in our travels. We got a perfect sunny day, so experienced the beauty of the area at it’s best.
Day 3 we went to the Te Anau caves to see glow worms in their natural habitat. It was a really good day, would highly recommend this to anyone travelling in this area. Cost is approx £60 per person, but it is worth the money. Can’t take any pictures or videos in the caves so can’t share any images here, so you’ll just have to go and see it for yourself! Then we took a stroll to the bird sanctuary, but it’s a bit hit and miss what you might see, but it is free, and the walk alongside the lake from the town centre is nice and only takes about 30 mins.
