Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Te Anau to Queenstown


This morning we got right down to business and were on the hiking trail within 30 minutes after finishing breakfast.  Today we sampled a 6.2 mile portion of the Kepler Track, our second of NZ’s Great Walks, from the flood control gates at Lake Te Anau to Rainbow Reach.  This trail was really quite lovely and peaceful, winding along the Waiau River through a forest of many shades and textures of green - large ferns, different types of leaves, and varies mosses covering the forest floor and clinging to the tree trunks and branches. The trail itself was very soft to walk on, which was a nice change from the hard rocky trails we’ve been on for the last several days.  Here are a few pics from the hike:




Also had to take this pic of a window I saw in Te Anau before the hike this morning:


What exactly do you think makes a menu “sassy”?  Hopefully it doesn’t mean the food talks back.  If so, that doesn’t seem like something you really want to advertise.

Having sampled some of the best that the southwestern portion of NZ’s South Island has to offer, it was unfortunately time to leave Fiordland so we piled back on the bus and headed inland towards Queenstown.  Along the way we got some great views of Lake Wakatipu as the road winds around it:


Just outside of Queenstown we stopped at Arrowtown, an old mining town:


The stop gave us an opportunity to walk around the cute little town, shop for some souvenirs, grab a drink at a local pub, and start comparing notes with each other for which adventure activities we want to do on our free day while we are in Queenstown.  As the home of bungy jumping and jet boating, there is certainly no shortage of options to chose from.

Upon our arrival in Queenstown a few of us went to book our chosen activities before heading to dinner.  I was kicking around a few ideas including paragliding, zip lining and jet boating, and ended up deciding to do a canyoning adventure.  We then had dinner and drinks with the group, and after what was CLEARLY too much booze, the four solo travelers in our group (including me) booked a trip to go skydiving from 12,000 ft. as well.  It looks like tomorrow should be a very interesting day.

Tonight’s to-do list: writing my last will and testament.

No comments:

Post a Comment