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Te Anau – Doubtful Sound

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Lake Te Anau

Te Anau is a town on the western side of New Zealand’s south island and its one of the hubs for hiking and cruising the famous Fiordland National Park including the Milford and Doubtful Sounds. We really liked this town – we had an excellent Airbnb, a fantastic gastro pub nearby and even though it rained the whole time we had a great time.

  • Te Anau Airbnb
  • Takahe – Te Anau bird sanctuary
  • Our Airbnb host’s boat “Faith”

The weather wasn’t conducive for doing any of the main hikes but we did do the Doubtful Sound Cruise. This Sound is very remote and quite hard to get to. Our excursion involved a cruise, followed by a bus ride, followed by the actual cruise of the Sound. It is said that if you haven’t experienced the Sounds in the rain then you haven’t experienced the real Sounds and we can now say that we have had the full experience. We would have loved to do it without the roar of the cruise boat engines and the bustling of the tourists but it was still very special.

It was really hard to get decent photos that captured the majesty of the mountains and waterfalls in the soft misty atmosphere but here are a few photos anyway.

Queenstown

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The drive to Queenstown was spectacular even though it was pouring with rain and the town itself was busy and appeared to be thriving despite COVID.

To get away from the rain a bit we drove out to a nearby town called Glenorchy where miraculously it was sunny – we walked, had lunch at the pub and then drove back into the rain in Queenstown. We were told that the drive to Glenorchy is one of the top 10 scenic drives and we can confirm that it is excellent!

The following day we had booked to do a scenic flight over Milford Sound but it was postponed due to the weather so we went to Arrowtown (a nearby town with a gold mining history) instead. The following day was perfect for the flight.

This trip has often been about meeting new people and finding out their recommendations and favourite places to visit and this is how we ended up at the Minus 5 Ice Bar. It was exceedingly cool! Even the glasses are made of ice.

Did someone say there are wineries here? Of course there was! We did a great wine tour with Altitude that took us to 4 wineries and of course we brought some home with us. There was just 2 couples plus the guide on the tour and we had a great time.

  • Gibbston Valley wine cave

Walking around Queenstown

  • Apparently frisbee golf is a thing!
  • Looking for somewhere warm to eat.

Mt Cook/Hooker Valley walking track

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Some very good advice from our friend Tara led us to do the Hooker Valley walking track which starts from the township of Mt Cook. It is about 10km long and takes roughly 3 hours, depending on how long you stop to take in the views and take photos (a lot for me). We can thoroughly recommend it. Mt Cook made its presence felt at times during the walk but we never saw the top as it was always wreathed in cloud.

Lake Tekapo

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Lake Tekapo is a gorgeous blue lake southwest of Christchurch. It is renown for it’s milky blue waters (made blue by rock flour which is created by the grinding of rocks by the glaciers) and is part of the UNESCO dark sky reserve. Unfortunately it was overcast the whole time we were there so we didn’t get to see the night sky. Also well known is the church of the good shepherd which sits on the edge of the lake.

Just trying to capture the blueness of the water.
The church of the good shepherd
Memorial to celebrate the Collie dog without which the grazing of the mountain country would have been impossible.

There is also a walk up to the observatory (which was closed) on Mt John with spectacular views over the surrounding countryside.

Walking up Mt John

South Island – Kaikoura, Christchurch

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We caught the early ferry to Picton and drove straight down to Kaikoura where we spent the night before going on to Christchurch. The road was windy and at times right on the edge of the sea. You could see evidence of extensive land slips and there were still road repairs going on (I assume since the previous earthquakes).

In Kaikoura there is a lovely walk out along the point and returning via the beach and the fur seal colonies.

Kaikoura with its black sandy beaches and rocky shelves and seal colonies.

Christchurch was a little confronting as the damage from the earthquakes was still so apparent. Barricades, damaged facades supported by shipping containers, big gravel car parks where buildings used to stand. Our BnB was in a brand new apartment building directly opposite the site of the collapsed CTV building where many lives were lost. 185 white painted chairs served as a reminder of the scale of the disaster. It was great to see signs of rejuvenation around the city though.

On the advice of the local parking ticket inspector, we took the local hop on hop off city tram around the city. We were the only people on the tour other than the driver so we got a very personalised tour of the city.

Christchurch

It was great to catch up with some old friends as well.