We left Fay and Phil's home around 9:00 after a great breakfast and headed to Te Anau about a seven hour drive. Te Anau is a small resort community on the SE shore of Lake Te Anau which is the largest lake in the South Island. We arrived mid afternoon, checked into our hotel and took a two hour hike along the shore. We had hoped for a great sunset but were thwarted by increasing clouds. Oh well.
On Sunday we had a short 2 1/2 hour drive to Milford Sound. Although it was raining we took a couple of short hikes on the way. The highlight of the day for both of us was the number of waterfalls we saw coming into Milford Sound. Because of the rocky mountainous terrain and the rain the waterfalls were constant. At one stop by the side of the road we saw no less than twenty five. Some were 400-500' high. We checked into the lodge where we had our own room but we shared bathroom facilities. We had "happy hour" in the dining room that overlooked the high mountains and many waterfalls.
Monday morning had us up at 5:00 as we had to meet at the boat dock for our 6:30 date to kayak in Milford Sound. We were in a tandem kayak and although we worked our asses off we had a fabulous experience. We travelled about 3/4 of the length of the sound toward the ocean and then were transported by motorboat back to the start point. We then backtracked to Te Anau and then drove to Queenstown which is situated on the shore of Lake Wakatipu. From the deck of our room we were able to see the lake. We did some laundry and relaxed before heading out to dinner. I checked Aurelie and Maud's itinerary and saw that that were also in Queenstown. I was able to phone Aurelie and we met for dinner. It was great to see her again and have her meet Susan. Maud is a friend of Aurelie's from grammar school. There is a tram within walking distance to a high point overlooking the city so we decided that on Tuesday morning we would hike up to the top and take the tram down.
We had breakfast in our room, checked out and walked to the tram. The hike to the top took us 1 1/2 hours which was a nice little workout for us with a reward of great views from the top. We headed back down via the tram and then drove to Haast which is a very small burg on the west central coast. Haast was just a stopping point on our way to view Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers and head north along the coast to drop Aurelie and Maud off at the coast starting point of the Heaphy Track. We had no cell service in Haast but were able to get internet.
On the shore of Lake Te Anau
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