February 10, 2019
We got a later start this morning. The room was so nice and comfortable that it was hard to leave. Free continental breakfast was included. I had yogurt and toast with Nutella and jam.
Heinrich drove back toward Queenstown to stop at the New World supermarket to buy food for dinner for the next two nights. We got our 6 cents per gallon discount gas coupon and drove to the Z station on the outskirts of Queenstown to fill up.
I took over driving. Our destination was Te Anau Downs (2 hours 10 minutes estimated drive time). The weather was partly cloudy and nice. I intended to stop at a few overlooks of the southern end of Lake Wakatipu, but somehow the Google Maps navigation got stopped and I passed all of them before realizing what had happened. We did stop at the southern tip of the lake to snap a few photos.
I had marked the Mavora Lakes as a possible destination, but they were on a one-hour side trip each way and on a very long dirt road. Since the weather did not look stellar in that direction, we decided to skip it.
As a result we were in Te Anau much sooner than expected. We stopped at the Fiordland National Park Visitor Centre where I picked up a few free brochures of the area and bought a T-shirt. We took a walk along the Te Anau lakeshore. It had turned into a nice warm afternoon and still was only partly cloudy.
We walked to the Punanga Manu o Te Anau Bird Sanctuary. This was a really interesting place. It is home to injured birds that could not survive in the wild as well as home to endangered species. My favorites were the takahē and kākāriki birds. The kākāriki had beautiful bright green plumage.
Then we drove into the town of Te Anau to fill up on gas. There was an I-site information center where I bought a Milford Sound day hikes guide for $3.
We drove to Te Anau Downs. We were staying at the Fiordland National Park Lodge. Since it was still too early to check in, we drove across the road to see Lake Mistletoe. It was a short 5-minute walk to the lake which had a nice view with mountains in the background.
We checked into our room. It was very nice with a private bathroom and a beautiful view of Lake Te Anau. There was a shared kitchen right next to our room, and there was also a lounge area with a TV, books and games.
After unpacking I took a walk along the shore of the lake while Heinrich did the laundry. There were a few nice wildflowers along the shore.
After I returned we cooked dinner in the shared kitchen. We had chicken alfredo with added red pepper and onion over spaghetti and a salad. We also split a loaf of bread from the bakery and I had hummus with avocado. It was delicious.
In the evening we took a walk near the lake. There were some beautiful lenticular clouds that formed. They were quite dramatic in the sky.
