Tdiddy12

Thanks everyone. Haven't booked anything yet for accommodations. Plan is to spend the night before Milford Sound in Te Anau. Do a late boat trip to the Glow worms. Up early next morning and take our time up to the Milford trip which leaves at 4:30PM. Next day drive to Queenstown, which I am thinking could be 6 hours. Spend two nights in Queenstown before flying out. Any suggestions for a place in Te Anau or Queenstown?

Diamantina

I see. No, you won't have time to stop if driving from Milford Sound to Queenstown. Your plans sound fine.
In terms of accommodation, do you want to be able to cook? Do you want to be able to walk to restaurants or is a short drive okay? Do you want lake views? How much would you care to pay? Some hotels will charge extra for WiFi. In Queenstown, some hotels also charge extra for parking.
I always check reviews on Trip Advisor and hotel booking sites, like Hotels.com

Melnq8

I highly recommend The Croft in Te Anau.

I've also had good stays at Birchwood Cottages and several motels. I'll look up the names if you'd like.

For Queenstown, we like Villa del Lago, and Orchard Cottage (which is not in town, but in the countryside).

CaliNurse

Tdiddy, yours are the same last 4-5 days I did in NZ before returning back to California. It's a very do-able itinerary. Lots of country driving through lovely scenery, so it won't feel at all stressful.

Oh, The Croft in Te Anau looks beautiful!! What a view! Alas...next trip!!

We stayed at Aden Motel in Te Anau. No lake view, a basic motel, but friendly people, large room with kitchen, clean...and it fit with our "economical" (i.e. as inexpensive as possible ) budget at that point.

We didnt stay right in Queenstown; rather, in Arrowtown, about 20 minutes away

Diamantina

In Te Anau, I've stayed at Aden Motel, The Croft, and Distinction Luxmore Hotel (there are two Distinction hotels in Te Anau, the other is on the lakefront).

I stayed at The Croft at Melnq8's recommendation, after she read my sad tale on this forum of my bad B&B experiences. She said I'd like The Croft and I did, as did my husband, who was delighted they had sheep he could pet. Here in Dunedin, the sheep go running, thinking you want to shear them, dock their tails, or load them on the truck to the abbatoir.

I would say it's not a traditonal B&B as you get your own cottage and have quite a bit of privacy. Most B&Bs I've stayed in give you a room in a large house. For breakfast, we joined the owners, Jane & Ross, in their own home. Lovely couple. We were there in autumn and had a nice talk about autumn leaves. Jane said she liked Dunedin's autumn leaf display. We said we thought Waitaki Valley was beautiful in autumn and this happened to be where her family was from.

It's just a short drive out of Te Anau, off SH94, the road that continues to Milford Sound.

Aden Motel is a budget motel. The major reason I stayed here was because TA reviews had mentioned how gracious and welcoming the host was (true). I also wanted complete cooking facilities (oven and stove in addition to fridge and microwave) as I was getting into town late and wanted to just cook for myself. The kitchen was dated but absolutely fine, the sleeping area had been modernized and was comfortable. As I was traveling by myself, I didn't want to spend much (I felt guilty traveling on my own while my husband was hard at work).

It's a block back from the lake, but there's a short path across the street that leads down to the lakefront. From there it's about a 10-minute flat walk to the Town Centre, where you can find restaurants and shops, a market, the popular pie shop Miles Pies, and Real Journeys office/dock (glow worm trips).

Distinction Luxmore Hotel was also comfortable and quiet. It's a regular hotel, so no coooking facilities. It's in the Town Centre, so I didn't have to walk far to Redcliff Cafe, the Real Journeys office/dock, or the Intercity bus stop (I needed to catch an early morning bus).

In Queenstown, I've stayed three times at Pounamu Apartments, twice at Nugget Point Hotel, Scenic Suites, and The Waterfront Apartments. Let me know if you want details about any of these plalces.

Diamantina

A lot of typos in my last post! Meant to write "places' not palaces or plalces.

paulg

I'll cast my vote for The Croft as well. We stayed there and really liked it. We herded the sheep (well, they kind of just ran away from us whenever we got too close) and my wife loved meeting and petting their pet lamb. Jane and Ross were some of the nicest people and very willing to talk about almost any subject.