Category: 2026

February 15, 2026

It was mostly cloudy when we checked out of the AirBnb in Dunedin to travel south to Curio Bay. We enjoyed our stay at the AirBnb: it had a wonderful view outside and was very quiet and private.

We stopped at a PAK 'n SAVE supermarket on the outskirts of Dunedin to stock up on groceries for the next few days and then filled up on gas. Then we drove south into the Catlins area. We had driven this route twice before so had already seen most of the major scenic areas. Today we made a few stops at places we had not been before.

Our first stop was Papatowai. I hiked a short nature trail: Shank's Bush. It was a short walk through the rain forest and viewed a small estuary.

At a second stop in Papatowai, I hiked to Picnic Point. This was another easy walk through an old growth rain forest that led to a small beach where the Tahakopa River empties into Tahakopa Bay. There were some nice views of the bay.

We drove on to stop at a couple of nice lookouts: Skeleton Point and Florence Hill, which was one of my favorites from the trip in 2019.

Our next stop was the Lake Wilkie Track. This was a stop that we had missed doing inn previous trips due to time constraints. It's a very short hike to a view of Lake Wilkie.

We arrived at Curio Bay and checked into our accommodation for the next two nights: the Cloud 9 vacation rental. We had stayed here before in 2019 and loved it. It has sweeping views of Porpoise Bay from the kitchen, living room, and bedroom. It is also the place where little blue penguins nest underneath the house, and we heard their loud calls in the middle of the night in 2023. We were hoping to hear them and possibly see them again.

We drove up the road to the visitor center to ask about penguin sightings. In 2019 we saw one hoiho penguin at Curio Bay: he put in a regular appearance almost daily just before dusk as he waddled in from the ocean, across the beach and to his nest in the bush. We did not see the penguin in 2023. This year there had been many sightings: the guest book inside our rental house mentioned sightings just a few days ago. The lady at the desk advised us to wait for the penguin between 7 and 8 pm.

We drove back to the house and fixed dinner: sweet and sour chicken and rice. , We enjoyed the views from the living room until it was time to drive back to try to see the penguin.

Our efforts to see the penguin were unsuccessful. We waited for two hours until 9pm, and the only sightings were a few birds. The weather had deteriorated, and it was cold, damp and windy.

We drove back to the house and started a fire. The heat from the stove kept us nice and warm. We waited for the little blue penguin to appear, but we did not see or hear anything before we went to bed for the night.

February 14, 2026

We spent a relaxing morning after being out very late the night before with the blue penguins tour. It was a lovely weather day with partly cloudy skies.

We had scheduled the late afternoon tour with Clearwater Wildlife Tours which departed from The Octagon. We drove downtown a few hours in advance to walk around and have an early dinner. Heinrich decided he wanted to try the New Zealand version of Mexican food, so we ate at Amigos. It was very good.

After dinner we walked around The Octagon and did some sightseeing.

The Clearwater Wildlife Tours van picked us up promptly at 4:30 pm. It was a small group tour with only 10 people. For the first part of the tour, we drove into the Otago Peninsula and stopped for some nice views.

For the next hour of the tour we drove around two wildlife refuges and saw many different varieties of birds. [Note: the list of birds didn't make the trip to Stewart Island, so captions will be added after our return.]

Next we drove to Cape Saunders. This area of the peninsula is on private land, so the only access is via the tours run by the owners. Our first stop was to view a very active fur seal colony. Many pups were swimming in the water. They were fun to watch.

Our next stop was where the fun really began. Penguin viewing time! We were lucky enough to spot eight yellow-eyed penguins (Hoiho) on the beach and near their nests.

We watched another adult penguin waddle up from the beach. The two juveniles got noisy wanting to be fed. And then the adult waddled over to one of the juveniles and fed it!

After that fun display, we walked down to the beach to view a group of sea lions. Some were resting and others were moving around and got a bit playful.

While we were on the beach we spotted three more Hoiho penguins standing in the bush, but they were too far away for me to get any good pictures.

On the drive back to Dunedin we made a final stop at a volcanic crater and had some nice views before sunset.

February 13, 2026

We woke up to a cloudy day with some intermittent rain. It was a 3 hour 40 minute drive to our next destination, Dunedin, via the route through Raes Junction which we had not driven before. I had planned to do some short hikes at Gabriel's Gully, a gold minng area, but when we arrived the weather was still very wet and cloudy, so we skipped the sightseeing and drove on to our AirBnb in Dunedin.

We had booked the Otago Peninsula In-Depth Tour which started at 6 PM and departed from The Octagon area in downtown Dunedin. It was only about a 10-minute drive from the AirBnb. We left a few hours early to allow us time to find parking and get an early dinner at one of the restaurants. It's a good thing we left when we did, because finding parking proved to be difficult. The first two lots we drove to were full, and then we finally found a parking garage at Lower Moray Place that was just a short walk away from The Octagon.

All of the driving around left us with less than an hour to eat. We found the Pizza Bar that could serve us each a slice of pizza quickly, and we managed to arrive at our meeting place with about 10 minutes to spare.

The tour was 5 hours and drove us in vans up to the tip of the Otago Peninsula to the Royal Albatross Centre where we would join the Blue Penguins Pukekura Experience. This is the tour that allows us to view the little blue penguins as they come ashore after dark each night and return to their nests. I had wanted to book just that tour which was a lot cheaper since it didn't include the transportation from central Dunedin, but that tour was completely sold out several months ago. Booking the in-depth tour was the only way we could get access to see the little blue penguins. It did have the big advantage that we did not have to do any driving on the peninsula after dark on very hilly and twisty roads.

The tour made a few stops along the peninsula for some views and to see birds.

We had time before sunset to explore the area around the Royal Albatross Centre. The winds were calm, so we did not see any albatross (they like wind). But we saw plenty of gulls. They were noisy and we saw gull poop everywhere

We gathered inside the albatross centre for the start of the penguin experience. First there was a presentation on the penguins, their behavior and what to expect. Then we all walked to the viewing platforms near the beach.

I barely had time to get the camera set up when I spotted the first group of penguins. Their behaviour was to gather in a group out at sea close to shore, forming a "raft." Then as a group they swam to shore, forming a "waddle" as they ran across the beach. Then they slowly picked their way up the rocks onto a path that led to their nests.

The guide was suprised that the first group came in so early. After that, we only had to wait a few minutes before another group came in, and another.... and the later groups got quite large. Occasionally we would see a straggler penguin make a go of the shore run by itself. These were referred to as the hero penguins.

Viewing conditions were very good. Periodically the guide had us switch sides to allow everyone a chance to see the penguins run from the beach as well as waddle up to their nests.

Penguins were still hanging around the area when the lights were turned off. The guide counted over 115 penguins for the evening. This was a very enjoyable experience: the penguins were just so darn cute!

February 12, 2026

Today was a rest day in Te Anau. We were both exhausted from the past few days of non-stop go on the Milford Track where we had to follow the group schedule and had little free time. Heinrich had developed a couple of blisters on his feet during the last couple of miles on the track, so we did not want to do anything to aggravate it. Tomorrow starts another round of get up and get going early with a few short hikes scheduled on tours of the Dunedin area: yet another reason to take it easy today.

Weather-wise, it was a very nice day: mostly clear in the morning, and more clouds in the afternoon. Temperature was in the low 70's, a bit humid but otherwise pleasant.

We enjoyed the luxury of sleeping in and then cooked an egg and potato breakfast. In the afternoon we took a short drive to the Te Anau Lake control structure, where the water from Lake Te Anau empties into the Waiau River. This is also an access point for the Kepler Track, another one of the great walks in New Zealand.

Heinrich found a bench with a nice view of the lake to rest his feet, and I took a short hike on the Kepler Track on the section that followed the Waiau River. The forest along the trail was different from what we had seen on the Milford Track. It was still lush with moss and ferns, but there was not as much undergrowth.

We returned to where we had parked the car, and I took another short walk to a bike trail access on the other side of the Waiau River. I found a good spot to view the river and the control structure in the distance.

Afterwards we stopped briefly at the Fiordlands National Park Visitor Centre to look around.

We drove back to the room and used the outside grill again for dinner. We had pork noisettes, rice and apple sauce. Delicious!

February 11, 2026

The final day of our tour included a morning boat ride in Milford Sound followed by a bus ride back to Te Anau. In the early morning it was still dripping rain and the clouds had not cleared. For a brief moment I managed to see one tiny spot at the top of Mitre Peak uncovered by clouds.

We had a final breakfast with the group and also made another round of sandwiches to take with us on the bus for lunch. Then we checked out of our rooms and took the short bus ride back to the harbor for our boat trip on Milford Sound.

I was first in line to get on the boat, and I headed straight to the top deck to snag a good viewing spot at the front. We were on the large Real NZ boat, so there was plenty of room to move around. At the beginning there were only a few others on the top deck.

We had a nice view of Bowen Falls and many other intermittent waterfalls on the journey.

The weather was still very drippy with rain. We reached Seal Point, and it started to rain harder just as I was trying to take a video of the one fur seal that we saw. So far my wildlife score for this entire New Zealand trip is 1: for this fur seal. (But don't worry, much more is to come in a few days!)

The rain finally stopped after we passed Seal Point, and the weather progressively got nicer.

The boat turned around for the return trip as it approached the opening to the Tasman Sea. We experienced some rocking with the waves coming in from the sea.

We had some interesting lighting as the sun tried to break through the clouds.

We stopped at Stirling Falls, where the boat came as close as possible to the falls and let people get wet from the spray if they desired. I was already wet but chose to stay on the top deck for photos and videos.

After we left the falls, the weather improved rapidly and we finally had large patches of blue sky.

We passed close to Bowen falls before returning to the harbor.

And at the very end we had a pretty good, but not perfect, view of Mitre Peak.

This was our third boat ride on Milford Sound, and all three were different: the first trip in 2019 was cloudy with no rain and very few waterfalls due to little previous rain. The second trip in 2023 we had clear blue sky with very few clouds, great views of the peaks, but again few waterfalls due to little previous rain. On this third trip we had the entire mix of weather conditions starting with drizzle, then rain, and then clearing with blue sky at the end. And this trip won the prize for the most waterfalls.

After the cruise we boarded the bus for the 90-minute trip back to Te Anau.

I took many photos from the bus window, but most are not very good due to the reflection of my phone on the window. Below are a couple of the good ones.

We returned to the Alpine Centre at Te Anau shortly before 1 pm, where we said goodbye to our guides and the others that were continuing on the bus to Queenstown. Graham drove us back to the Te Anau Lakeview Holiday Park where we picked up our stored car and luggage. And we bid farewell to Graham as our trip plans diverged at this point. We will be meeting him again next month to experience the geysers around Rotorua on the North Island.

Since it was too early to check into our motel, Heinrich and I drove to the Te Anau bird sanctuary, and we found a picnic table to eat our sandwiches for lunch. The table was near the Antipodes Parakeets enclosure, and we watched the workers set up new tree branches inside the enclosure for the parakeets to nibble on the leaves.

One of the workers looked familiar to me, and I called out to her: did you by any chance work here in 2019? She responded yes! It was the same person who had given us a tour of the bird sanctuary, and I had taken an extended video of her feeding the Takahe and explaining their behavior. Sadly those tours are no longer given due to lack of staffing.

I also asked her how the newborn Takahe chick was doing. And sadly we found out that the chick had died shortly after birth. She was hopeful that the pair would breed again soon.

We finished our lunch and then drove over to the Alpine View Motel to check in. We had a one bedroom apartment with a kitchenette. The motel was closer to downtown Te Anau and a 2-block walk to the lake.

Next we went shopping at the Fresh Choice supermarket to stock up on a new round of food for a few days.

Before dinner I took a short walk around the area. The afternoon weather was sunny, quite warm and not windy. It definitely felt like summer. I had a nice walk near the lakeshore.

Some pretty flower gardens were on the grounds of the motel.

The motel had an outdoor grill, and we made use of it to fix a nice steak dinner.

February 10, 2026

We woke up to a cloudy day, and the weather forecast was for rain later in the day. The hike to Milford Sound was the longest of the 4 days: 13.5 miles. Fortunately the terrain was mostly flat, leading slowly downhill to sea level.

We crossed a swinging bridge and shortly afterwards got a distant view of Sutherland Falls.

Continuing onward, we passed many small waterfalls generated by the recent rain. The hike was through lush rainforest once again. There was one rocky stretch of downhill that we had to navigate, and that along with my stops to take photos and videos, put us near the rear of the group. Graham was near the front of the group– maybe we would see him later.

Later in the morning we stopped to admire Mackay Falls and right next to it, an interesting pothole feature named Bell Rock. I ducked inside to take a look. I could stand up inside the rock to view the top of the pothole.

Traveling onward, the trail flattened out even more, but the weather started to deteriorate. Light rain was falling intermittently, and there were lots of large puddles on the trai and muddy areas. The rain fed even more waterfalls. The trail followed the shore of Lake Ada, and soon afterwards we started to see the flats leading into Milford Sound.

Finally we reached the shelter near Giants Gate Falls. This was the designated lunch stop for the day. I grabbed some snacks out of my backpack and downed some water. After 5 minutes Heinrich and I were ready to continue on to make up some time. Graham was already there, and all three of us hiked together for the final stretch. The boat at Sandfly Point, the end of the trail, left every half hour, and the guides had mentioned the night before that the goal was to get everyone to the boat by 4 pm. It was already 2:30 pm and we still had over 3 miles of hiking to go. Would we make it?

After passing Giants Gate Falls we started to run into day hikers that had taken the boat ride for a short hike to see the falls. For the final mile the weather got even worse and now was a steady light rain. The trail puddles got larger and it became much harder to avoid them. Of course the waterfalls got better!

Finally we reached Sandfly Point, the official end of the trail. Sandfly Point truly lived up to its name since the sandflies were really obnoxious there.

The guides checked us in and gave us our room key for the Mitre Peak Lodge. They provided drinks and cookies. I was thankful for the covered shelter, since it was raining even harder now. The time was about 4:10 pm, so we had missed the 4 pm goal time, but we were not the last to arrive. We signed a large numbered board for the check in, and the three of us number 36 to 38 out of 49. There was one final boat waiting to transfer us to the dock at Milford Sound. The guides said we would have about a 25-minute wait until the final hikers arrived.

We were told we should take time to get our final photo taken at the "end of the trail" sign before the last hikers arrived. And then, like some sign from the gods, it started to pour! So in order to get that one last photo I became completely drenched.

The official trail length is 33.5 miles, but Graham calculated we hiked a total of 38.3 miles including all of the side trails and the nature walk.

The final hikers arrived and we got on the boat that shuttled us to Milford Sound. From there we took a short bus ride to Mitre Peak Lodge where we checked into our rooms. Once again Heinrich and I got a really great room that was supposed to have a view of Mitre Peak, but there was no view since it was still pouring rain. I do think the reason we got such good rooms was because we were among the very first people to book this tour back in April.

There was the usual wine and drinks before dinner, and the briefing for the next day's activities occurred before dinner this time. Our final dinner for the trip was especially tasty.

February 9, 2026

Today was the most challenging part of the hike since it involved a steep climb to MacKinnon Pass and then an even steeper drop downhill to Quintin Lodge, for 9 total miles of hiking. Fortunately the weather cooperated and it was a gorgeous day with sunny clear skies. Although this photo doesn't show it, the view out the window from our room at the Pompolona Lodge was lovely with mountains and waterfalls.

Before starting the hike for the day, I had a few moments to walk around the lodge and take some photos. The view from the deck was similar to the view from our room.

Close to the start of the hike was a bridge with a limit of 1 person at a time to cross. This alone forced us to spread out.

The first few miles were relatively easy with a gradual climb through mostly open terrain. Waterfalls continued to be everywhere.

Mintaro Hut was out last chance to use the bathroom and refill our water bottles before the big climb to MacKinnon Pass.

At this point Heinrich told me to go on ahead. He was more comfortable at a slower pace, and there was a deadline of 4:30 pm to reach the lodge in order to be able to take a side trip to the highest waterfall in New Zealand: Sutherland Falls.

So I went on at my own pace. The climb to the pass for me was slow but not too difficult. I went at a steady pace and made a few brief stops for photos and videos. The views were spectacular.

At MacKinnon Memorial I met up briefly with Graham who had been ahead of us, going at his own pace. This was the group lunch stop, and the guides offered hot and cold drinks. I stopped long enough to take photos and grabbed a drink, but I did not take a longer break for lunch. That 4:30 pm deadline was very much on my mind.

Past the memorial there was one more brief climb to MacKinnon Pass. And then finally I reached the top. It was a great feeling to be done with the climb!

Next it was a short downhill stretch to Pass Hut, where I again met up with Graham. Many in the group took another break here, but I kept going. At this point I actually was near the head of the group which had just started out from the hut.

Th downhill stretch got steeper. Then came the really hard part. The main section of the trail was closed due to some wash outs. It was bad enough that I heard from one of the guides that it was permanently closed for the season. Instead we had to follow an "emergency route" that was 2/3 of the way shorter than the main route, meaning it was even steeper. And boy was it tough. Not only was it steep, but there were big rocks to pick through most of the way, and some wooden boards had been wedged into sections of the trail to form pseudo steps. Several times I was afraid I was going to lose my balance, but thank goodness I had the hiking poles which kept me steady. It seemed forever to get down, but eventually the path rejoined the main trail.

The main trail continued the steep downhill with a series of steps and wooden staircases. It followed a rushing river (Anderson Cascades) which was quite beautiful.

The steep downhill ended near the Anderson Shelter, where I had a bathroom and water break. I then trudged on through the final stretch to Quintin Lodge, arriving at about 3:15 pm and well before the cutoff time to hike to Sutherland Falls.

The host showed me to my room, which once again had a lovely view. I captured it this time on camera.

I finally ate my sandwich in the room for a very late lunch. I left my pack in the room, grabbed my water bottle and camera, and set out for the hike to Sutherland Falls. As I was leaving the lodge, I met Graham who was just checking in. We would meet up later at the falls.

The hike to Sutherland Falls was 45 minutes each way and described by a guide as 15 minutes of flat, followed by 15 minutes of climbing, and then another 15 minutes of flat. It ended up taking me about 50 minutes to get there. The climbing stretch in the middle was a bit tough with steep steps cut into the trail and some rocky sections. The trail crossed 2 swinging bridges. The view of Sutherland Falls from the second swinging bridge was quite nice.

The trail went to the base of the falls. It was a great view: the falls were very powerful and the wind was blowing the spray everywhere.

Graham met me at the falls and we hiked back together to the lodge.

Heinrich retuned from his hike a few minutes after I arrived back at the lodge. He had a tough time on the Emergency Route section, but fortunately he was able to borrow a hiking pole from one of the guides, and that helped him a lot.

The evening at the lodge was the usual affair with drinks, snacks, and charcuterie board before the 3-course sit down dinner. The ribeye steak was very good.

February 8, 2026

It rained overnight, but by morning it had quit. It was still very cloudy outside, but the forecast looked good with the weather clearing soon. Heinrich and I had splurged for a private room and bath for this trip (many of the others were in rooms with bunk beds and a shared bath), and it was very nice. It had a view, although this morning the view was of fog and clouds.

The morning routine was: wake up before the generators turned back on shortly before 6 am, then go to the dining room to prepare our lunches. Fixings to make sandwiches and wraps were laid out buffet style in the dining room area. There was also a selection of snacks to choose. Afterwards we had a buffet breakfast with hot food options: today we had scrambled eggs and bacon. Baked beans were available as well. Then we went back to our rooms, packed up and gathered outside the lodge to start the hike for the day. The group started hiking at 7:30, and it didn't take long for us to spread out on the trail, each of us choosing our own level of pace. The was always a guide at the front of the group and one at the rear.

Total hiking distance for today was about 10 miles, and it was mostly on flat terrain. The first part of the hike was in a beech forest and followed the Clinton River.

After about a mile we took a short detour on a boardwalk to view the Clinton wetlands and a small waterfall.

We returned to the main trail and continued to follow the Clinton River. By now the weather was mostly clear, revealing the beautiful mountain peaks around us. We saw many waterfalls along the way. The recent rain really helped the waterfalls!

We stopped for lunch at the Hirere Hut. The guides provided a selection of hot and cold drinks at the hut.

Continuing on the trail, the terrain was more open with grasslands and manuka trees. Waterfalls were everywhere. We took side trips to Hidden Lake and Prairie Lake. The waterfall at Prairie Lake was especially lovely.

We started a gradual climb. Some high mountains with snow on the top came into view, with wind blown waterfalls.

The final stretch of the hike for the day was a bit challenging, a steep uphill section traversing a wide dry river bed with large boulders that we had to navigate across. There was a guide at the top providing encouragement. Our end destination was Pompolona Lodge.

At the lodge a host greeted us and gave us our assigned room number. Cookies and a cold drink were provided. We checked into our room and then gathered with the others outside on the deck for beer and wine. A charcuterie board was provided before dinner. We heard calls from some kea birds, and I briefly saw one fly off of the roof into the forest.

We gathered in the dining room for dinner. I had the slowed cooked beef which I had selected on the sign up sheet the night before.

After dinner we had the usual presentation from the guides about the schedule for the next day, and we made our meal selections for the next night's dinner. Then we went back to our room to recharge the cell phones before the generators turned off at 10 pm.

February 7, 2026

Some background: a couple of years ago, Graham Meech asked me if I would be interested in going on the Milford Track hike. I didn't know much about it, but I liked the area, so I said, "sure!" Initially we were talking about doing the hike as independent walkers. But then Graham told me this hike was so popular that some luck was involved: only a limited number of hikers were allowed on the track each day: reservations for a spot would open up around Memorial Day weekend and usually they all sold out in about 10 minutes.

That did not sound very appealing to me since I wanted to have trip plans and other reservations made well before Memorial Day. A random internet search for more information about Milford Track led me to a website for Ultimate Hikes. This company allowed sign-ups for small group tours well in advance of Memorial Day, and they would take care of all meals and provide accommodations inside lodges instead of huts along the track. There were plenty of openings since this was not a cheap option. I talked it over with Graham, and he agreed this would be a good option. And then Heinrich came on board as well. So we made our travel plans, picked out a set of 4 days that would work for us, and signed up.

For more information, here are links to the Ultimate Hikes Milford Sound webpage and to an Ultimate Hikes PDF map of the track.

It rained overnight, and we woke up to find mostly gray sky. At one point the clouds parted and we saw a nice rainbow outside of our cabin.

I made a quick breakfast of blueberries and an apple, finishing our remaining perishable food. We checked out of the cabin and paid $15 NZD to rent a storage locker for our valuables that we did not want to leave in the car unattended for 4 days during our Milford Track hike. We also paid for parking to leave our car in the back lot at the holiday park: $25 NZD for up to a week.

We drove to the Ultimate Hikes meeting point at the Alpine Centre Cafe & Bar. We wanted to complete our early check-in before the rest of the group arrived from Queenstown. We found out that 5 people were getting on the bus at Te Anau (Graham, Heinrich, and myself plus 2 others) and 44 others would be arrving on the bus from Queenstown, giving a total of 49 hikers in our group.

We drove back to the holiday park to store our luggage and our car, and then Graham met us there to drive us back over to the Alpine Centre where he had paid to park his car.

Ultimate Hikes provided lunch for us at the cafe, and we got an early start eating before the rest of the group arrived from Queenstown.

We boarded the bus with our group and drove to the Te Anau Downs boat dock, where we got on the boat to take us across Lake Te Anau to Glade Wharf, the start of the Milford Track. The weather was completely overcast and spitting drops of rain off and on, but that didn't stop us from climbing up to the top deck to get the best views.

One of the highlights was passing the memorial grave for Quintin MacKinnon, the explorer who discovered the tourist route from Te Anau to Milford Sound that became the Milford Track. Many features in the area now are named after him. In 1892 he never returned from a lake crossing, and he was presumably drowned in Lake Te Anau.

We had quite a ride on the top deck, with only a few other people brave enough to face the weather. Most stayed in the covered cabin below. The following photos show our lovely views.

The boat also included some independent hikers not part of our tour -- the folks who were lucky enough to snag a spot on the track when the reservation window opened last May. They were first to depart the boat. The blue and white container shown on the deck in the next photo contained some disinfectant that we all were required to step in to clean the bottoms of our boots and hiking poles to avoid the introduction of nasty bacteria that could harm the area plant life.

Finally we were off the boat and ready to hike. First up was the token photo op at the start of the hike.

Then it was just a short 1-mile, 20-minute jaunt over to Glade House which was our lodging for the night.

At Glade House, a host checked us in and gave us our assigned rooms. We dropped our packs in the room and then gathered outside in front of the lodge for the official group photo.

Afterwards we had a 2 km, 1.5-hour nature walk up the Glade Burn. We were split into 3 groups, taking off into different directions since the walk was a loop hike. Before the start of the walk I took a quick photo of the swinging bridge across the Clinton River. We would be traversing it at the start of the hike tomorrow.

The nature walk was interesting with our guide Harry pointing out various plants and what they were used for, and naming some of the birds that we saw. One plant had edible leaves, and he passed around a leaf that we could sample. The leaf was very spicy in flavor, and the more I chewed the spicier it got.

The walk itself was more strenuous than the first mile of the track since it was a steady uphill climb and involved stepping over a lot of tree roots. We eventually reached the top where there was a view.

We climbed back down the trail and completed the loop near the swinging bridge. We walked across the bridge and admired views of Glade House and the Clinton River.

After the nature walk we had free time to settle into our rooms. The lodge had drying rooms and facilities where we could wash our clothes if needed. A separate drying room was for boots and rain jackets where the heat was less intense, to avoid damage to the materials.

The bar opened before dinner, and Heinrich, Graham and I enjoyed a glass of wine or beer. Dinner was a sit down affair in a large dining room and was a 3-course meal. That morning during check in we were each asked to select from three main menu items: I chose the salmon and Heinrich chose the venison. It was very good.

After dinner the entire group gathered in the lounge where the guides gave a presentation about the history of Glade House and the area. The guides introduced themselves (there were 4 guides for our group), and then everyone in the group took turns making introductions. We got to hear where we were all from and why we had decided to make this trip. The guides then gave us a briefing about what to expect on the trail tomorrow and the schedule for the day.

We returned to the room and made sure to charge our phones. The generators turned off promptly at 10 pm, so there was no power overnight. And with no wifi or cell phone reception, it pretty much guaranteed I would be getting a full night's sleep, which was a good thing!

February 6, 2026

It rained heavily overnight, and in the morning it was mostly cloudy but the rain had stopped. We checked out of the room early and managed to get past Queenstown before the traffic became bad. The traffic was steady but heavy all the way south. The road followed the shore of Lake Wakatipu. We stopped at the southern end of the lake and walked to wharf that was near a train station. We walked around a park that had nice views of lake.

We drove further south to the Fairlight Railway station. We could not access the building: the gate was shut across the driveways and a brand new fence was around the area. We read some information signs outside and took a few photos.

We drove the rest of the way to Lake Te Anau. By this time the weather was partly cloudy but there were some strong winds around the lake, which made it feel cold. We stopped to visit the Te Anau Bird Sanctuary. This spot was a favorite and our third visit. The sanctuary cares for the endangered Takahe flightless birds. We saw a group of 3 Takahe and another group of 4. The posted signs said there were 2 pairs, each with a yearling chick and another had hatched a few days ago, still in the nest.

At the sanctuary we met our friend Graham Meech, who will be joining us for the multi-day hike on the Milford Track. We watched the Takahe together.

It was now past 2 PM and time to check into our lodging at the Te Anau Lakeview Holiday Park. Our room was a kitchen cabin with a king bed, 2 extra single beds, sheets and a comforter on top of each bed, but we had to make up the beds. No towels were provided. The shared bathroom was a short walking distance away, and the facility was very clean and nice. Wifi reception was acceptable near the bathroom but was terribly slow in the cabin. I could not keep a connection on my phone or on the computer. I had to give up uploading photos to my web log since the connection was way too slow. Further updates will have to wait.

We fixed dinner: eggs and potatoes again to finish our perishable food. I also had a sandwich with ham and a salad with mayonnaise and honey mustard dressing.

After dinner Graham joined me for a walk back out to the lake. We took the trail from the visitor center to the bird sanctuary and then walked down to a small wharf.

Back at the cabin I spent the evening packing for our upcoming multi-day hike on the Milford Track. Clouds rolled in, so there was no good sunset.