Te Anau

I used to carry a paper notebook and write in it each day to capture my memories of trips. And that was perfectly good and appropriate and normal. But somehow doing it electronically feels like I'm wasting my time on my laptop and I should be out doing stuff. So don't expect daily updates, but I'll probably write little bits as I go along and then post once for each location. Or maybe twice if my photos get too much.



We arrived in Te Anau at about 2pm on Friday. Back at home it was 8pm Thursday and I'd left at 8am Wednesday so we didn't plan for anything at all that day because we figured we'd be exhausted and lucky to even make it through a meal. Actually we had a fair amount of energy. So after a late lunch we went for a little walk, down along the south end of the lake as far as the bird sanctuary. For Nancy those birds don't count because they're captive, but for me they totally do because I've never seen them before and they're cool looking. Also, I'm not "counting" them at all since I can't even tell you their names. Here's some Friday photos.

Leah is very much her mother's daughter.

Some kind of parakeet maybe? Nancy will know. It was captive at the bird sanctuary.

A New Zealand Pigeon. It was quite large, and came flying right at me.

Takahe, captive at the bird sanctuary. There is food in the white bin and they can open it up to get some. But this afternoon they were pretty shy. This was the only one we saw and it quickly ran to hide in the grasses.

Lake Te Anau is on the back side of the fiords. It's sort of the foothills at this end.

Now, the forecast calls for rain every day we're here. Kind of all day, every day. And the only thing on the schedule for Saturday is an evening excursion to the glow worm caves. We figured the 4 year old would need an easy day after all that travel, and it would give me a chance to do something in the daytime without the little one if I wanted. At one point I was doing that thing I do, having unrealistic grand plans, and thinking I could do a half day hike. There is very good hiking around here. But because the rain was supposed to start by 10am I decided maybe just a morning hike and come back to town for lunch. That way I could turn around whenever the rain started, of if I reached the start of the Kepler Track, or at a mile and a half, whichever came first. I reached the Kepler Track after about 70 minutes and then went a little farther just to say I've walked part of the track. Then I walked back. When I hit the 2 hour mark, nearly home but not quite, I was tired, hungry, and thinking I'm an idiot. I never would have managed 4 hours. Though I suppose if I were really trying to I'd have brought food and actually stopped for a rest a few times. In the end I did about 7 miles. Then I ran into Nancy and Leah in town and got hot pies for lunch. (YUM) We went to the Fiordlands Visitor's Center, which was smaller than we expected. And now we're crashing for an afternoon nap before an early supper and then meeting up with Linda and Brian for the glowworm caves. (Can you call it a honeymoon if they haven't actually gotten married yet?)

Now that I look at my photos, I actually went for a little walk before breakfast just in case the rains came early. There's a nice path along the lake through town. Then I did the big walk after breakfast, which is south along town, past the bird sanctuary, and then onward. Here's some Saturday photos.

A black billed gull. They are plentiful all around the lake.

On my pre-breakfast walk the lake was so still.

I think those are black backed gulls, which are the same as we have.

You can take sea plane tours.

On my big walk I was heading over to the start of the Kepler Track, which is a 4 day hiking trail with huts. It goes all through those mountains. I think it was about 70km total.

It never quite rained, but it always felt like it might.

On Sunday we will be heading up toward those mountains to go to Milford Sound.

This is a different takahe. They were much more active this morning.

I think the food bins had just been refilled, so here is a youngster getting fed.

At the end of the day Saturday we met up with Linda and Brian (the reason we have come in the first place) and went on a tour of the glowworm caves. That was very cool. I find caves interesting anyway, add a constellation of living critters on the ceiling and it was wicked cool.

I'm going to say this is it for Te Anau even though we're sleeping here tomorrow night as well, because tomorrow we're doing a day trip to Milford Sound. I'm hoping the rain is light enough that there will be lots and lots of pictures.