A solo traveller from Hamburg was on our cruise and we were sharing holiday stories when she announced she doesn’t like Bavaria or South Tyrol because it is so clean, and manicured with all those flowerboxes! .. I LOVE those flowerboxes and have photos of all the colour combinations I like .. so funny.

Day 13: travel day to Te Anau



Wanaka to Te Anau drive






over the Crown Range, via Cardona, with our picnic lunch in Arrowtown (historic gold mining town) an hour away .

https://newzealandwanderer.com/thing...-in-arrowtown/

It’s an interesting drive, through the golden tussock/ grassland hills, then down towards Queenstown with the lake and mountain landscape.












Arrowtown was really busy, so we skipped the main town to picnic in a quiet public park, with plans to visit later from our Queenstown base (go early, and not on a weekend, is my plan).

It’s a very sweet town, we didn’t see the historic centre but the backstreets have a lot of charm, nice homes with nice gardens. Lots of trees and autumn colours are starting.



Bypassed Queenstown and the lakeside road is stunning, couldn’t pull over so just snapped away from the car.










And the rest of the drive is very pretty, too.








Arriving in Te Anau, struck by how nice it is, like Wanaka, to have no high rise along the shorefront.

Really people friendly with great pedestrian / cycle pathway, and public park, lots of people walking, jogging, enjoying the sunshine.

Day 14: Te Anau



Cloudy, then sunny in afternoon 19C

We opted for this - a 10 min drive to Rainbow Reach (part of Kepler Track), parked at the Kepler Track Trail Head at Rainbow Reach bridge, and can walk from there in either direction.

Can do this direction toward the huts

https://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-re...r-moturau-hut/

Or to Control Gates at Lake Te Anau 3.5 hours

We started on the uphill walk to the huts, but the canopy thinned out and we returned to walk along the river side instead (Control Gates direction) as it was so lush and mossy, I loved it. We just wandered, then returned to picnic bench at the bridge and lunched there.










































Time for a picnic.



We then drove back to the Control Gates and walked a bit from that end, to meet up with 2 ladies we had crossed paths with earlier (only they had walked there and back 18 km)





I would have liked to do the Key Summit walk but it’s a bit harder than DHs knees (and likely mine) would be happy with - it is a 1 hr drive on the Milford Sound Rd to start of Key Summit walk (3 hours) https://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-re...-summit-track/

(With driving this is a 5 hour day at least)



This would also be a fabulous walk, beyond our fitness though:

Lake Marian https://destinationlesstravel.com/lake-marian-track/ 3 hours- is uphill after waterfalls

https://keepcalmandjastravel.wordpre...-marian-track/



Kepler Track / Routeburn Track and many bits of either, such as https://tripsandtramps.com/tales-fro...ack-day-walks/

https://myqueenstowndiary.com/things...u-new-zealand/

This is a lovely town, a great base for walks, there’s lots of accommodation (nice looking backpacker hostel near us on lakefront), good grocery shopping and restaurants.

Ohhh, Adie, you've mentioned some of my favorite NZ treks. We last visited NZ in 2018, after visiting almost yearly, and I'm suddenly really missing it. Must get back down there before we're too old and feeble

Day 15: Te Anau



Milford Sound cruise :

Left Te Anau at 7 am - it�s a 2.5 hour drive minimum, and preferred to allow extra time (arrived 9:30am)

Our cruise is booked for 10:30 am with RealNZ on board the Mariner, which is scow style boat, 2 hour cruise and includes lunch

NZ$356 for 2

Plan the journey

https://milfordsoundtourism.nz/travel-tips/#driving1

https://www.realnz.com/en/plan/12-mu...milford-sound/

Driving through dawn, then fog, such an interesting landscape, forest, wide valley, narrow valley, the drive is spectacular.






Eglinton Valley


Mirror Lakes, easy and short stop






The Homer tunnel

Sandflies at the Milford Sound carpark, it is a nasty sting like a needle prick, bring your repellent ..

The cruise is fantastic, lots of drama with really steep forested cliffs all around.

It was dark, grey, cloudy, at the wharf.
Looked quite gloomy, but the colour of the water changes as the light changes and it�s all beautiful. Sometimes steely grey, other times a turquoise green.


So grey - but no rain


Our boat




Boats give perspective





















To the Tasman Sea



And back to the fiord, grey again





Milford Sound is a fiord, not a sound https://www.milford-sound.co.nz/abou...und-geography/

but the name stuck.



The fog had lifted, could now see what we had driven through this morning








Falls Creek, an easy stop at roadside, green pool





On return stopped at Cascade Creek carpark to do the Lake Gunn loop - an easy 40 min, mossy walk through red beech forest to the lake https://southlandnz.com/listing/casc...ture-walk/252/

it�s gorgeous, so peaceful, and a good place to stretch legs.





Can hear the wind above, but so sheltered in the forest






Lake Gunn




Dinner at Paradiso Pizzeria, he had pizza, I had an excellent fettuccini with prawns, capers, lemon, garlic.

Milford Sound photo in our accommodation -


not my photo, lol




Options using water taxi



Historic boat cruises



Our morning view



Our view



Huge trees, a lovely lakeside path

Great trip report and fantastic photos. I live in New Zealand and sometimes think why do I bother going overseas when there are so many beautiful spots here. If you are in the USA make an effort to visit. It's a 12 hour flight from the West Coast, about 14 from Houston and 19 from New York but don't let that put you off!
The Fox/Franz glaciers are one of only two places in the world where temperate rainforest and glaciers meet. The other place in somewhere in South America.

Simply stunning. It�s incredible that there is a place on earth as spectacular as SW New Zealand. Glad you keep on hitting on high after another.

What an amazing trip! Great to see that even on a cloudy day Milford Sound is still not to be missed. But of course, there is so much more....
Once again, thank you for all the info and all the links...very, very helpful.
For restaurants, especially for dinner - did you need reservations? Did you make them in advance or just the day of, or the prior day? Thanks.

Day 16: Te Anau

Wet, windy - today was a ‘read the papers, drink coffee’ kind of day.

Considered doing the Kepler Track Control Gate to Dock Bay easy, flat, in sheltered forest 1 hour, but no. We stayed in and lounged.

xyz99: On reservations for lunch/ dinner - we usually booked the day before.

Te Anau is deceiving, it’s small and looks like there is no one around, then we walked to dinner and the restaurant was packed, and we could see the bus loads arriving back from Milford Sound with disgorged passengers now looking for a place to dine. We were glad to have booked.

I did book Fiddlesticks weeks ahead, because I thought it was small and popular, not sure that far in advance was necessary.

Day 17: Te Anau to Queenstown travel day





Cloudy, light rain.

Forecast 3C to 9C - a lovely easy 2 hour drive - low cloud on the hilltops.












Stopped at the New World store by the Queenstown airport and did our grocery shopping, had some lunch, and by good fortune passed a bakery, Ma Boulangerie! Yes, please.

Such good sourdough bread, and a few sweet items for later. Had the sourdough with dinner, really excellent.

Walked to the botanic gardens - even though some flowerbeds fading, there’s a pond, some later flowering plants, some early autumn foliage and the trees are majestic.




What a wonderful tree






This huge limb on the oak is being supported by a Māori carving





I love windflowers

Your photos of your Milford Sound drive and cruise bring back such wonderful memories of our trip. We have photos of Eglinton Valley, Mirror Lakes, and Falls Creek, too. Love your sunrise photos. So gorgeous! We really enjoyed staying in Te Anau, and we stayed across from the lake, too, with beautiful views.

That's a good idea to include your maps so people who haven't been here can see your route. How do you highlight your route on the google map? Do you print it out, highlight the route, and then take a photo?

Thank you. We're going in January, so I guess more crowded and reservations even more needed. I just hope we'll have as nice weather as you did, even with the short periods of colder, rainier times.

Amazing report so far. Great photos. Gives lots of ideas for a future trip to the south island. I also like how you included the images of the map--helps to visualize it all in once place.

Karen - I just use Google maps and take a screenshot of my route from �my location� to the destination sought. Can �add stop� as well.

Day 18: Queenstown

2 sunny days forecast, so lucky!

Crisp, clear morning 3C. Gorgeous.

Today we drove to Glenorchy, a perfect day for this scenic lakeside drive. It’s a 45 min drive.

Lake Wakatipu is 80 km long and thin, with surrounding mountains, so there’s drama at every turn. Little coves with pebbly beaches and clear water, high lookouts over steely blue deep water, and in shallower areas it is a stunning green.


























picnic time







Glenorchy walks: https://myqueenstowndiary.com/hikes-...y-new-zealand/


We stopped at Lake Moke on our return, it’s a partly gravel, curvy, narrow road and we weren’t quite sure what we were going to find there, but there’s a camping ground and a 6 km loop walk around the lake. It lies in the valley between Queenstown and Glenorchy but feels a million miles away. https://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-re...ke-loop-track/

So different to what we had just experienced.












I did a Queenstown lakeside wander in the late afternoon






























There’s lots of other nearby walks that we didn’t do:

From my notes : Routeburn Flats hut - a 30 minute drive from Glenorchy to the Routeburn Shelter, where the Great Walk starts, so it’s easy striking distance for day walks. (Not sure about the road)
You can hike in to the first hut on the track and back in about three hours, or walk some of the shorter trails around the Routeburn Shelter, like the Nature trail loop 1 hour.. or do a bit of Routeburn Flats and return when ready and join the loop walk

https://www.queenstownnz.co.nz/listi...n-flats/10789/



Bob’s Cove had no parking left when we passed

https://myqueenstowndiary.com/bobs-c...ck-queenstown/



Mt Crichton loop walk https://www.queenstownnz.co.nz/listi...p-track/16153/

Currently storm damage repair work being undertaken

From my notes: Mount Crichton Loop is about a 2.5-hour loop trail that had a lot of variety. It starts by following a beautiful forest stream, and includes bridges, a waterfall, a minor’s hut, tunnel, and views. We did the track clockwise, which I would recommend. It kept the uphill bits in the shade while the downhill portion was more exposed and had solid and even footing.

Lake Sylvan - bridge yet to be repaired.

….

a beautiful, varied day.

Thanks! I never thought of doing this!

We loved the drive along Lake Wakatipu from Queenstown to Glenorchy!! It was one of the highlights of our trip. More scenic than we were expecting. And we enjoyed the pretty walk around the Glenorchy Lagoon. We didn't know about Lake Moke. Wish we did. It looks so peaceful and pastoral. You had a perfect day!

Is that the TSS Earnslaw in your last photo?

The NZ Tourism Board owes you, Ade! Your report is very convincing.
We would go there tomorrow but for the looooooooooong flight(s).
We old.
I am done. the jealous

zebec, you can do it! We did, and we are in our 70's. Of course, we flew Premium Economy, which is the first time we've ever spent this amount of money on airline tickets! But it was worth it.