Alps and animals …
DAY 1 – Queenstown to Te Anau
After a nice few days around Queenstown, we packed up the car and headed south to our next stop in Te Anau.
Not a long drive but we were following the Southern Scenic Route – well another part of it as we had covered part of it on our visit to Glenorchy. And we continue on it for some days after our stop in Te Anau.
As we left Queenstown the weather was a bit overcast but with patches of sun, however quite windy. There was very little traffic on the road and we mainly followed the edge of Lake Wakatipu until the town of Kingston at the bottom of the lake. Kingston is the home of the “Kingston Flyer”, a vintage steam train on a restored section of the original Kingston to Invercargill branch line which closed in the 1950’s. Volunteers have helped restore about 14km of track – but not open today.
Further along we stopped in Garston – mainly so Adrienne could stop at the “Hunny Shop” to buy some NZ honey. However, Garston’s main claim to fame is that it’s the most inland settlement in NZ – missed an opportunity for a “centre of NZ” plaque !
The countryside driving along is very rural in the lowlands surrounded by the spectacular mountains which are all part of the South West NZ World Heritage Area. We arrived in Te Anau just before noon and with a few showers around decided to start at the Visitor Centre. We had hardly set foot in the place when one of the staff came up to us and said they were closing – it was lunch time between 12 and 1pm ! So we left and headed into town.
It was pretty quiet and we had some very light rain falling however we walked around for a bit before finding a nice cafe for a bit of lunch – bagels with cream cheese, bacon and tomato. After lunch, we walked through a few more shops until we could check in to our hotel at 2pm. Our original hotel booking had to be cancelled as the room type we had booked was made unavailable a month or so before our tour as they were renovating. Adrienne found another nearby on the Lake which is a very nice large room with its own kitchen and laundry – the Fiordland Lakeside.
With the weather clearing a little, after putting on a load of washing we set off for a walk along the lakefront back toward town. We also picked up some groceries and some lunch provisions for our tour the next day and then walked back to the hotel. With the sun out for now, we drove back out of town to a viewpoint above the lake looking back into town. We didn’t stay long as the chilly wind nearly blew us off the side of the hill !
The light rain returned and we decided to have an early dinner at nearby “Jimmy Cook’s Kiwi Kitchen” in the Kingsgate Hotel. We had the place to ourselves but the meal was very nice – we shared some ciabatta bread and wontons then both had the special, a venison ragout which turned out to be an excellent choice. Very tender and tasty !
Not a bad day despite the changing weather !
DAY 2 – Doubtful Sound excursion
This whole area is part of the Fiordland National Park, the largest in NZ, and contains both the spectacular, glacier-carved fiords of Doubtful Sound and Milford Sound. Today we had booked a tour to Doubtful Sound. Not great weather greeted us as we left Te Anau for the half hour drive to Manapouri where we would join our tour – a bit overcast and scattered showers, but the forecast was for some improvement during the day.
The first part of our tour was a boat trip across Lake Manapouri – about an hour – to the West Arm Visitor Centre. This lake itself was formed by glaciers and is New Zealand’s second deepest lake. It contains about 33 small islands dotted around the lake and a lot of these are completely wooded. These provide good habitat for some of the endangered NZ birds and these are then being used to “re-stock” other places where the birdlife is more endangered.
From here we boarded buses to take us across the mountains to the Deep Cove Cruise terminal at the end of Doubtful Sound where we would cruise the sound for about 3 hours, out to the Tasman Sea and back. This is also the location of the Manapouri Hydro Power Station. It opened in 1971. Construction commenced in 1964 and the current road between West Arm Visitor Centre and the Deep Cove Cruise terminal was built as part of the access for the dam construction.
There is a drop of some 230 metres between Lake Manapouri and Doubtful Sound and the 10 km road goes up and over the mountain with grades of 1 in 6 going up and 1 in 5 going down the other side. There is a viewpoint at the top which is the first sight of Doubtful Sound however it was just fog when we drove in and there were remnants of recent snow fall at the top. At Deep Cove we left the bus to board our boat for the cruise around the sound.
Whilst the weather was overcast, the recent rains had left numerous parts of the surrounding mountains with tumbling waterfalls into the sound. As we cruised along, there was an on-going commentary about the sound and surrounding area and wildlife. We tucked into the tasty chicken wraps we had bought yesterday for lunch and popped in and out of the cabin as the weather allowed to get photos.
After about an hour and a half, we reached the opening to the Tasman Sea. Weather conditions dictate how far the boat can “venture out” however today was not too rough so we ventured out a bit near some small islands where seals were resting. Despite being “not too rough” for us, there were a few other passengers who ended up holding their heads in their hands on this part of the cruise.
Turning around, we started heading back to the starting point of the cruise. Along the way, the boat went into one of the branches of the sound where the water was almost completely calm. It stopped and turned off the engines and we sat for about 5 minutes just contemplating the surroundings. Everyone was asked just to sit and listen, no walking around, talking of taking photos. All you could hear was the numerous waterfalls showering into the sound, the wind rustling in the trees on the bank and an occasional bird song in the distance – all surrounded by the towering peaks top with snow – quite a spectacular few minutes.
Back at the dock we re-boarded the bus back to West Arm. The weather had improved and we were even getting some brief patches of sun. Luckily it was clear enough for us to get a view of the sound as we reached the viewpoint at the top on the way back. Back on the boat across Lake Manapouri we got some not so good news about our plans for tomorrow – but I’ll leave that for now.
Driving back from Manapouri we stopped at the supermarket to pick up some dinner supplies to eat in and had a quiet evening.
DAY 3 – Washed out
Following our tour to Doubtful Sound yesterday, today was scheduled for a tour of Milford Sound. However, as I’ve mentioned, when we were on the boat coming back across Lake Manapouri late yesterday Adrienne looked at the weather forecast for tomorrow on her phone. The bright red “Weather Alert” indicated that the area was to be hit with torrential rain – 120 to 170 mm in about 12 hours from early am to late afternoon, with surface flooding and difficult driving conditions – and an “avalanche warning” around the Milford Sound area !
Checking her email, we found we also had an email from the tour company for tomorrow – due to the forecast conditions, our tour was cancelled !
We had sort of planned for this possibility as originally we thought we might stay in Milford Sound and do the overnight tour on the boat from there. However, Adrienne had read warnings that the weather could be unpredictable and those self driving needed to be ultra cautious of the possible driving conditions. So we decided to add the extra day in Te Anau and do the tour from there and let the tour company deal with any issues. And checking the road this morning, we can see that it is closed so we wouldn’t have been able to get in !
Whilst we haven’t had the forecast extreme weather conditions in Te Anau, we had some heavy rain and thunderstorms during the night and it rained most of the morning. We spent the morning catching up on some washing and blogging and had sandwiches for our lunch. During our lunch a bit of blue sky started to appear so we decided to go for a bit of a drive.
We headed north toward Milford Sound – mainly so Adrienne could get a photo of a “Road Closed” sign. We drove as far as the Te Anau Downs Scenic Lookout however although the sun was out around us, it was raining and the sky ahead was pretty black so we decided to turn around.
Back in Te Anau, we drove around to the other side of the lake to the lake control point – a small weir which regulates the flow of water from Lake Ta Anau, along the Waiau River which ultimately runs into Lake Manapouri. It is also the starting point for the Kepler Track, which is another famous NZ “Great Walks” similar to the Milford Track.
As we got back to the carpark, we had another shower of rain but stopped at the Te Anau bird sanctuary on the way back to the hotel. The sanctuary houses some of the rare/endangered NZ birds like the Takahe and Brown Teal and also a small “insurance” population of Antipodes Island parakeets. These are in enclosures however the area attracts other more common birds. We wandered around for a while however the clouds closed in again and we headed back to the hotel.
For dinner we walked up to the town and had dinner at the Fat Duck Gastropub – awarded NZ’s Best Gastropub 2025. We went early and still found all the tables with “Reserved” signs however we were able to get a table reserved for later in the evening. The food was really good – Duck wontons shared for starters whilst Adrienne had a pork belly for main and I had a pan fried chicken breast with fantastic vegetable accompaniments. It was really busy and the staff very nice and attentive. Foodwise they would certainly rate pretty high in what we have had so far.
Despite today’s disappointment we have had an enjoyable stay in Te Anau. Tomorrow we are off to Invercargill.