Queenstown and Te Anau - December 28, 2009

Today we spent the morning in Queenstown, where there are numerous people around, but nothing felt crowded. We did see there were opportunities to do some extreme sports, but didn’t see too much because we only spent the morning in town. There was a beautiful walkway that took us all along the water from our hostel to the gardens in town. Colin practiced his skills at photography and took some great shots of our walk.




We decided today we would experience local cuisine since there were so many restaurants to choose from. We decided on a little French restaurant called “Solera Vino” where Colin ate fish with rice and peas and I had beef with couscous and a mint-cucumber yogurt sauce. Colin’s sole was amazing!! My meat was extremely juicy and tender, but neither of us are big fans of mint-cucumber yogurt sauce. After a nice dessert at Patagonia Chocolate Company, we drove the 2.5 hours to Te Anau, which is our base for the next three days.

Unfortunately, the overnight cruise of Doubtful Sound was booked solid, so we decided to do a three day package of events in Fiordland. We booked a cave tour tonight at 5:45pm, that takes us underground to see the bioluminescence of gloworms. Tomorrow, we will cruise Milford Sound and the day after we will cruise Doubtful Sound.
The drive to Te Anau again was amazing and beautiful. We drove along the mountain for the first hour or so and then in the valleys for the second hour and a half. In the valleys we saw so many animals grazing in the fields. I read in a travel book that sheep outnumber people in New Zealand and what we have seen certainly confirms that!!
Our hostel in Te Anau is very different than the YHA hostels we have stayed at. The owners have actually expanded their home to accommodate about 20 people. There are two buildings and the “backpacker dorms” which have bunk beds are in the second building not far from the owner’s homes (where there are rooms with double beds only). The owners are so lenient and relaxed. The view is pretty amazing as well. We are in a plain-like area where the mountains pop up around us. The neighbors have sheep in their back yard!



We drove around Te Anau a little bit before heading out to our cave exploration. We caught a boat from downtown across the lake to the entrance to the caves. Unfortunately, the tour did not allow us to take photos, but believe me when I say the light from the glow worms was amazing. I get a little claustrophobic when it’s pitch dark, but had no problems because the glow worms lit up the cave for us. The boat ride was nice, but a bit windy. I’ll have to remember to bring warm clothes the next two days since we will mostly be on the water.