Te Anau, New Zealand Travel Blogs

Doubtful Today
Sep 22, 2004 (9 photos)

... , the DOC website (I think I linked it in the last entry) has more on the takahe, the fiords, and a lot more interesting stuff. I won't be posting pictures for a few days. The only place I can upload from in Te Anau just closes whenever they want to.

Straight off of 90210
Nov 8, 2004 (3 photos)

... . They went together and I went in a single kayak and we followed the shore. Lake Manapouri is much more interesting than Lake Te Anau. This was my second time on Lake Manapouri (the first being on the way to Doubtful Sound). This trip was very calm ...

Milford Sound
Sep 24, 2004 (10 photos)

Two updates in two days. This is unheard of! Actually I've just done a lot in the past two days between Doubtful and Milford. Today I woke up kind of groggy and wondering if I wanted to even get up to go ot Milford. Would they reschedule if I just ...

Te Anau Life
Nov 23, 2004

... cast and crew frequented the Redcliffe and Muzza, the chef, is still working there. He said that when Liv Tyler walked into the 4 star Te Anau Hotels and Villas (owned by the same guy as the Luxmore Hotel that I work at) she refused to stay and then had ...

Te Anau
Mar 31, 2005 (4 photos)

... and for once the local seemed happy, even glad that the tourist were there. After chatting to a lady at the hostel it seems that Te Anau lives for the tourist season and when its over the town is dead. No wonder they liked us. We passed a shop and both ...

Te Anau
Jun 28, 2008 (6 photos)

... the epic assent. We wound our way up the mountain, through the rain forest, occasionally treated to an ever improving view of Te Anau and its surroundings. Not without some considerable effort we made it above the tree line and onto the top of the ...

A Day Off
Oct 3, 2004 (3 photos)

... 't like that book or its author. Last night I just started a book on Children in Belsen. I'll probably be done by tomorrow and the Te Anau library just isn't that big. I guess I'll have to expand into *gasp* FICTION! It's not that big of a deal, but I ...

Te Anau - Via Milford Sound
Jul 31, 2006

Rain

People (are Strange)
Oct 24, 2004

... with me. Lately I've been looking at cars because then I will be able to take everything with me. Instead of staying in Te Anau until May, I will probably leave around December or January to head for Nelson at the top of the South Island and do some ...

Heading South to the Sounds
May 9, 2006 (13 photos)

... get really bad by Thursday so thought the further south we got the better asap. Started the lovely drive down towards the main town - Te Anau. Along the way, find flossy in a rather large formation of sheep - see photo! Stopped on the way at another ...

Doubtful Sound
May 11, 2006 (10 photos)

... . Got back late as spent so long watching dolphins etc (guide was v relaxed about it all). Had been raining all day in Te Anau! Back to the van and decided to drive up to Queenstown as needed internet and to do some more work on Oz application so we ...

Reflections from the road ¼ of the way thru
Dec 13, 2004

... miss -20 or worse. I don't miss waking up in the dark and leaving work in the dark. The 10 pm sunsets in December here in New Zealand has been a pleasant surprise to say the least. I don't miss TV but I do miss movies and the odd round of video games on my ...

The Kepler Ache
Dec 20, 2004 (3 photos)

Thursday afternoon Chris and I set off to endure a struggle through the Kepler Track-one of DOC's three Great Walks of New Zealand. Day one involved a walk along the shore of Lake Te Anau and after about two hours ascended into beech forest. Zig zagging ...

Work, etc.
Sep 29, 2004

I'm tired. I've worked a few twelve hour days and waking up at five AM isn't my idea of fun. I've been working in the buffet picking up dishes and I've been portering. "What's portering", I asked a few weeks ago. The response was something like: ...

Getting ready for the long walk!
Nov 1, 2008 (11 photos)

... first accompanied an article by poet Blanche Baughan, which was published in The London Spectator in 1908. Today the Milford Track is New Zealand's best known walking track, with over 14,000 independent and guided trampers completing the track each year.

Fiordland
Apr 9, 2005 (6 photos)

... etc. cool as we drive from place to place, stopping for a picnic lunch somewhere along the way. (Kris warned me that New Zealand has a high incidence of food poisoning for some reason which I could understand when eggs aren't refrigerated in the shops! ...

Dunedin to Te Anau
Jul 21, 2005 (5 photos)

... , unfortunately the wind wasn't strong for them to fly, but we did see some seals so that made up for it. We then headed across country to Te Anua. We made it to Te Anua late on in the day ready for our jaunt over to Milford sound the following morning.

Journey to Te Anau
Apr 5, 2006

... of a massive crystal clear lake. There's a little bird santuary here too where they are trying to rear the rarest bird in New Zealand and bring it back into the wild. They use little hand puppets shaped like real birds to feed the chicks and try to ...

Te Anau
Mar 22, 2005 (5 photos)

... spoilt by ducks, we were advised by the drive to shoot the ducks first so that we could get really good photos. We arrived at Te Anau and our accommodation; it was great we each got a room to ourselves. Not massive rooms, but big enough for a single bed, ...

Settling Down?
Sep 16, 2004 (8 photos)

... my two bags and tent. So I threw my stuff down and headed out to the Town Center...which I realized I was already in. Te Anau has a population of roughly 1,700 people compared to Queenstown (7,500). Queenstown is also a large tourist place and Te Anau ...

Paintings in the Sky: Aurora Australis
Nov 12, 2004 (5 photos)

How can I describe last night? Awesome is too small a word. The sky was so amazing. I got out of work at 10:45 and was walking past The Moose (as I have to get home) and saw people looking up in the sky. I figured it was too early (and quite sad) to ...

Milford Road
Oct 10, 2005 (15 photos)

... him a couple of beers that I had left over. My 3 nights at his beautiful backpackers provided some of my best memories in New Zealand, and I was genuinely sad to be leaving. I shook his hand and had a quick play with Shaka, his friendly Alsation, before ...

Time for Change
Dec 8, 2004 (2 photos)

... back into the lake while yelling "NO!!! GET THE KIDS AWAY!" Meanwhile cars were slowing down and looking because of the sizeable (for Te Anau) crowd collected on the side of the lake. Quite a funny event. Well, I'm out for now. I may post a pic or ...

Gateway to Fiordland National Park
Jan 12, 2008 (2 photos)

We headed south from Queenstown to Te Anau, a stopping point on the way to Milford Sound.  There's not much to see in Te Anau, but the town sits next to Lake Te Anau.  We pulled into a holiday park overlooking the lake.  It didn't have ...

Your oxen died while fjording the river ...
Aug 16, 2009 (13 photos)

We headed south to Te Anau after Queenstown because it's the jumping-off point for excursions to Milford Sound. Te Anau itself doesn't have much to see, but there were a couple things to do int he surrounding area. We decided to get up early the first ...

The joys of illegal camping
Nov 24, 2005 (3 photos)

... ) and having a quick wash at the petrol station we were back on the road heading down to the adventure capital of New Zealand - Queenstown. Just before arriving we took the worthwhile 7km detour to Arrowtown, which is a very pretty looking town with ...

Milford Sound
Apr 14, 2007 (12 photos)

... fjord, briefly onto the Tasman sea the heavens opened and we all retreated into the boat only peering out to catch a glimpse of the New Zealand Fur Seals (also mis-named, they are sea lions). Back in the car we were put off the various stops just off the ...

Wondering in the Aftermath
Mar 21, 2005 (3 photos)

... or even what I'll be writing about. I can't even begin to guess where I'll be when I sit down to write the 'two-hundredth'? I could be anywhere really, absolutely anywhere. It might not even be from New Zealand. Who knows? I can only hope it is.

Otago to Te Anau, Milford Sound and Banks Pen.
Dec 31, 2004

... . So we had a hunch it might be scenic. The road runs along the edge of the once glacier filled Lake Te Anau, passing undulating farmland, mountain beech forest and Te Anau Downs, before entering Fiordland National PArk and the Eglinton Valley. This ...

Sometimes
Jun 9, 2004

Well I've been travelling for a year now - I've been collecting lots of inspirational quotes and stories along the way. I'm not sure who the author of this one is, but it sums up rather well the last year for me: Sometimes people come into your life ...